Spurilla braziliana

Spurilla braziliana
Brazilian aeolid nudibranch (Spurilla braziliana)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Order:	Nudibranchia
Suborder:	Cladobranchia
Family:	Aeolidiidae
Genus:	Spurilla
Species:	S. braziliana
Binomial name
Spurilla braziliana MacFarland, 1909 [1]
Synonyms
Eolidina (Spurilla) gabriellaeVannucci, 1952 Spurilla gabriellae(Vannucci, 1952)

Spurilla braziliana is a species of sea slug, an aeolid nudibranch. It is a shell-less marine gastropod mollusc in the family Aeolidiidae. ^[2]

Distribution

This species was described from a single specimen collected at Alagoas, Brazil. It has also been reported from the Caribbean Sea, Florida, Mexico, Colombia, Cuba, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, and in the northern part of the Magellanic Province. It has been identified from the Pacific Ocean including the Hawaiian Islands, the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, Peru, Japan, China, and Australia. ^{[3] [4]}

Description

Spurilla braziliana have an elongated body that is round at the posterior end and tapers off at the anterior end. The dorsal and lateral sides of the body are covered in tentacle-looking structures cerata. On the front of the head are separated paired appendages called pericardium. ^[3] S. braziliana is variable in color, with this variation being correlated with age. ^{[5] [3]} Young S. braziliana are mostly creamy white. Adult individuals are tan with wide dots across their bodies. The cerata are darker brown and have white tips. Part of the nudibranch can also be orange. S. braziliana can reach around 25 mm long. ^[3]

References

1. MacFarland FM., (1909). The opisthobranchiate Mollusca of the Branner-Agassiz expedition to Brazil. In: MacFarland FM, editor. University series (2). Stanford: Leland Stanford Junior University Publications. p. 1–104. pls. 1–19.
2. Gofas, S. (2015). Spurilla braziliana. In: MolluscaBase (2015). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species on 2016-11-21.
3. Carmona L, Lei BR, Pola M, Gosliner TM, Valdés Á, Cervera JL. (2014). Untangling the Spurilla neapolitana (Delle Chiaje, 1841) species complex: a review of the genus Spurilla Bergh, 1864 (Mollusca: Nudibranchia: Aeolidiidae). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 170(1):132–54.
4. Carmona L., Pola M., Gosliner T.M. & Cervera J.L. (2013). A tale that morphology fails to tell: A molecular phylogeny of Aeolidiidae (Aeolidida, Nudibranchia, Gastropoda). PLoS ONE 8(5): e63000. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0063000.
5. Domínguez M, Troncoso JS, García FJ. (2008). The family Aeolidiidae Gray, 1827 (Gastropoda Opisthobranchia) from Brazil, with a description of a new species belonging to the genus Berghia Trinchese, 1877. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 153: 349–368.