Felimare villafranca

Felimare villafranca
A much paler than average color form of Felimare villafranca
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
(unranked):	clade Heterobranchia clade Euthyneura clade Nudipleura clade Nudibranchia
Superfamily:	Doridoidea
Family:	Chromodorididae
Genus:	Felimare
Species:	F. villafranca
Binomial name
Felimare villafranca (Risso, 1818)
Synonyms[1]
Chromodoris coerulea (Risso, 1818) Chromodoris gracilis Rapp, L.W. Von, 1827 Chromodoris messinensis Ihering, 1880 Doris coerulea Risso, 1818 Doris gracilis Rapp, 1827 Doris marmorata Savigny, M.J.C.L. De, 1827 Doris pasini Verany, 1846 Doris pasinii Vérany, J.B., 1846 Doris pulcherrima Cantraine, 1835 Doris schultziana Chiaje, S. delle, 1841 Doris schultzii Delle Chiaje, 1841 Doris tenera O.G. Costa Doris tricolor Cantraine, F.J., 1835 Doris villae Verany, 1846 Doris villafranca Risso, 1818 (basionym) Glossodoris gracilis Rapp, L.W. Von, 1827 Glossodoris schultzii Chiaje, S. delle, 1841 Goniodoris elegans Deshayes, G.P., 1866 Goniodoris vivida Forbes, E., 1844 Hypselodoris midatlantica Gosliner, T.M., 1990 Hypselodoris villafranca (Risso, 1818)

Felimare villafranca is a species of colorful sea slug or dorid nudibranch, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Chromodorididae.^[1]

Description

This species is usually blue, often quite dark blue in color. The body grows to a length of 40 mm.

Felimare villafranca

Distribution

This nudibranch is found on the coasts of the Eastern Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea from France, the Bay of Biscay to Morocco, Cape Verde Islands, Canary Islands and the Azores.

References

• SeaSlug Forum info at:
• Ortea, J., Valdés, Á. & García-Gómez, J.C. (1996). Revisión de las especies atlánticas de la familia Chromodorididae (Mollusca: Nudibranchia) del grupo cromático azul. Avicennia suplemento 1: 1-165 page(s): 5
• Gofas, S.; Le Renard, J.; Bouchet, P. (2001). Mollusca, in: Costello, M.J. et al. (Ed.) (2001). European register of marine species: a check-list of the marine species in Europe and a bibliography of guides to their identification. Collection Patrimoines Naturels, 50: pp. 180–213
• Debelius, H. & Kuiter, R.H. (2007) Nudibranchs of the world. ConchBooks, Frankfurt, 360 pp. ISBN 978-3-939767-06-0 page(s): 111
• Johnson R.F. & Gosliner T.M. (2012) Traditional taxonomic groupings mask evolutionary history: A molecular phylogeny and new classification of the chromodorid nudibranchs. PLoS ONE 7(4): e33479

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