Amanda armata

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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

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

In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. Other ways of defining species include their karyotype, DNA sequence, morphology, behaviour or ecological niche. In addition, paleontologists use the concept of the chronospecies since fossil reproduction cannot be examined.

Sea slug group of marine invertebrates with varying levels of resemblance to terrestrial slugs

Sea slug is a common name for some marine invertebrates with varying levels of resemblance to terrestrial slugs. Most creatures known as sea slugs are actually gastropods, i.e. they are sea snails that over evolutionary time have either completely lost their shells, or have seemingly lost their shells due to having a greatly reduced or internal shell. The name "sea slug" is most often applied to nudibranchs, as well as to a paraphyletic set of other marine gastropods without obvious shells.

Aeolidioidea superfamily of small sea slugs, the aeolid nudibranchs

Aeolidioidea is a superfamily of sea slugs, the aeolid nudibranchs. They are marine gastropod molluscs in the suborder Cladobranchia.

Contents

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]

Endemism Ecological state of being unique to a defined geographic location or habitat

Endemism is the ecological state of a species being unique to a defined geographic location, such as an island, nation, country or other defined zone, or habitat type; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsewhere. The extreme opposite of endemism is cosmopolitan distribution. An alternative term for a species that is endemic is precinctive, which applies to species that are restricted to a defined geographical area.

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]

Cerata anatomical structures found in nudibranch sea slugs

Ceras, plural Cerata, are anatomical structures found externally in nudibranch sea slugs, especially in aeolid nudibranchs, marine opisthobranch gastropod mollusks in the clade Aeolidida. The singular of cerata is ceras, which comes from the Greek word "κέρας", meaning "horn", a reference to the shape of these structures.

Ecology

The food and egg mass of this nudibranch are unknown.

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References

  1. ↑ MacNae, William. 1954. On some eolidacean nudibranchiate molluscs from South Africa. Archived 2015-12-25 at the Wayback Machine 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
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