Amanda armata

Night sky nudibranch
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
(unranked): clade Heterobranchia

clade Euthyneura
clade Nudipleura
clade Nudibranchia
clade Dexiarchia
clade Cladobranchia
clade Aeolidida

Superfamily: Aeolidioidea
Family: Facelinidae
Subfamily: Crateninae
Genus: Amanda
Species: A. armata
Binomial name
Amanda armata
Macnae, 1954[1]

The night sky nudibranch, scientific name Amanda armata, is a species of sea slug, specifically an aeolid nudibranch. It is a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Facelinidae.[2]

Distribution

This species is endemic to South Africa, having only been found around the coast on both sides of the Cape Peninsula, intertidally to about 15 m.[3]

Description

The night sky nudibranch grows to between 10 and 20 mm in total length. It is a slender, pale-bodied nudibranch with groups of brown cerata having large white spots running down the length of the body. Its rhinophores are annulate, and there is a pair of elongated oral tentacles with white blotches.[4]

Ecology

The food and egg mass of this nudibranch are unknown.

References

  1. MacNae, William. 1954. On some eolidacean nudibranchiate molluscs from South Africa. Annals of the Natal Museum 13(1):1-50, pls. 1-2.
  2. Sartori, André F. (2014). Amanda armata Macnae, 1954. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species on 2015-02-27
  3. Gosliner, T.M. 1987. Nudibranchs of Southern Africa ISBN 0-930118-13-8
  4. Zsilavecz, G. 2007. Nudibranchs of the Cape Peninsula and False Bay. ISBN 0-620-38054-3

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/3/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.