Pleurobranchidae

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Pleurobranchidae
Berthella martensi (Pilsbry, 1896).jpg
Tomoberthella martensi , with lateral gill visible
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Order: Pleurobranchida
Superfamily: Pleurobranchoidea
Family: Pleurobranchidae
Gray, 1827
Type genus
Pleurobranchus
Cuvier, 1804
Genera

See text

Synonyms [1]
  • Bathyberthellini Garcia, Troncoso, Cervera & Garcia-Gomez, 1996
  • Berthellinae Burn, 1962
  • Pleurobranchinae Gray, 1827

Pleurobranchidae is a taxonomic family of sea slugs, marine gastropod molluscs, in the order Pleurobranchida.

Contents

Characteristics

Close-up on the lateral gill of a pleurobranch sea slug (Tomoberthella martensi) Gills of pleurobranch sea slug Berthella martensi (Pilsbry, 1896).jpg
Close-up on the lateral gill of a pleurobranch sea slug ( Tomoberthella martensi )

Species in the family Pleurobranchidae have a prominent mantle and an internal shell that becomes reduced or is lost completely in adults. [2] Some adult species have been seen feeding on ascidians. Larval pleurobranchids can be planktotrophic (feeding on plankton), lecithotrophic (deriving nutrition from yolk), or direct developing.

Like all Pleurobranchomorpha, they breathe through an external gill, located on the right side (contrary to nudibranchs who have it on the back), just after the genital organ.

Many species produce secretions from their rich glandular mantle as a chemical defense against predators. [3] Even the production of sulfuric acid has been reported. [4]

Taxonomy

Until 2005, this family was placed in the suborder Notaspidea. However, in the taxonomy of Bouchet & Rocroi (2005), the family Pleurobranchidae was placed in the superfamily Pleurobranchoidea. This superfamily was placed as the sole member of the subclade Pleurobranchomorpha, sister to the subclade Nudibranchia within the clade Nudipleura. [5]

In 2017, Bouchet and colleagues emended the spelling and rank of Pleurobranchomorpha to order Pleurobranchida and separated some of the members of Pleurobranchidae into the additional famlies Pleurobranchaeidae and Quijotidae, all within the superfamily Pleurobranchoidea. [6]

The following genera and respective species are recognised in the family Pleurobranchidae: [7]

References

  1. ↑ "WoRMS - World Register of Marine Species - Pleurobranchidae Gray, 1827". www.marinespecies.org. Retrieved 2025-11-01.
  2. ↑ R. Willan (1987). "Phylogenetic systematics of the Notaspidea (Opisthobranchia) with a reappraisal of families and genera". Am. Malacol. Bull. 5: 215–241.
  3. ↑ Aldo Spinella; Ernesto Mollo; Enrico Trivellone; Guido Cimino (December 1997). "Testudinariol A and B, two unusual triterpenoids from the skin and the mucus of the marine mollusc Pleurobranchus testudinarius". Tetrahedron. 53 (49): 16891–16896. doi: 10.1016/S0040-4020(97)10124-7 .
  4. ↑ T. Thompson (1988). "Acidic allomones in marine organisms". J. Mar. Biol. Assoc. U. K. 68 (3): 499–517. doi:10.1017/S0025315400043368.
  5. ↑ Bouchet, P.; Rocroi, J.-P.; Frýda, J.; Hausdorf, B.; Ponder, W.; Valdes, A.; Warén, A. (2005). "Classification and nomenclator of gastropod families". Malacologia. 47 (1–2). Hackenheim, Germany: ConchBooks. ISBN   3-925919-72-4. ISSN   0076-2997.
  6. ↑ Bouchet, Philippe; Rocroi, Jean-Pierre; Hausdorf, Bernhard; Kaim, Andrzej; Kano, Yasunori; Nützel, Alexander; Parkhaev, Pavel; Schrödl, Michael; Strong, Ellen E. (December 2017). "Revised Classification, Nomenclator and Typification of Gastropod and Monoplacophoran Families" . Malacologia. 61 (1–2): 1–526. doi:10.4002/040.061.0201. ISSN   0076-2997.
  7. ↑ WoRMS. "Pleurobranchidae Gray, 1827". World Register of Marine Species . Retrieved 2025-11-01.
  8. ↑ Francisco José García; José Carlos García-Gómez; Jesús S. Troncoso; Juan Lucas Cervera (May 1994). "A descriptive study of some Antarctic notaspidean opisthobranchs (Gastropoda), with description of a new genus and species". Polar Biology. 14 (4): 261–268. doi:10.1007/bf00239174. S2CID   30362849.
  9. ↑ Cervera et al. (2000). A new species of Berthella Blainville, 1824 (Opisthobranchia: Notaspidea) from the Canary Islands (Eastern Atlantic Ocean), with a re-examination of the phylogenetic relationships of the Notaspidea. J.Moll. Stud., 66: 3001-311.
  10. ↑ Michael Schrödl (1999). "The genus Berthella Blainville, 1825 (Notaspidea, : Pleurobranchidae) from Magellanic waters". Journal of Molluscan Studies. 65 (4): 399–409. doi:10.1093/mollus/65.4.399.
  11. ↑ Marcus, Ev. 1984. The Western Atlantic warm water Notaspidea (Gastropoda, Opisthobranchia), Parte 2 Boletim de Zoologia, Universidade de Sao Paulo 8 p. 43-76.
  12. ↑ Mörch, 1863. Contributions à la faune malacologique des Antilles danoises Journal de Conchyliologie 11 21-43.
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