Tethydidae

Tethydidae
Tethys fimbria on the sand bottom with a broad oral hood on the left (the head end) and a body with two rows of spotted cerata
Melibe leonina
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Order:	Nudibranchia
Suborder:	Dendronotacea
Superfamily:	Dendronotoidea
Family:	Tethydidae Rafinesque, 1815
Type genus
Tethys Linnaeus, 1767
Diversity [1]
2 genera 20 valid species and 3 uncertain species
Synonyms [2] [1]
Fimbriidae O'Donoghue, 1926 [a] Melibidae Forbes, 1844 Tethymelibidae Bergh, 1890 [b]

Tethydidae is a family of nudibranchs, shell-less marine gastropod molluscs or sea slugs, in the superfamily Dendronotoidea. ^[1]

Description

Species in this family do not possess a radula. ^[3]

Genera

Two genera are recognized within the family Tethydidae: ^{[4] [1]}

• Melibe Rang, 1829
• Tethys Linnaeus, 1767

Nomenclature

The group was originally established as Tethydia, as a subfamily. ^[2] In 1981, the Official List by Opinion 1182 of ICZN (1981: 174) ruled the corrected name of the group is Tethydidae and not the incorrect spelling Tethyidae. ^{[5] [2]}

Explanatory notes

1. Invalid name, as the type genus is a junior homonym
2. Name not available, as it is not based on a genus

References

1. Bieler R, Bouchet P, Gofas S, Marshall B, Rosenberg G, La Perna R, Neubauer TA, Sartori AF, Schneider S, Vos C, ter Poorten JJ, Taylor J, Dijkstra H, Finn J, Bank R, Neubert E, Moretzsohn F, Faber M, Houart R, Picton B, Garcia-Alvarez O (eds.). "Tethydidae Rafinesque, 1815". MolluscaBase. World Register of Marine Species . Retrieved 2026-03-01.
2. 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.
3. Rudman W. B. (14 October 2002) "http://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet.cfm?base=tethfimb". Sea Slug Forum, accessed 29 December 2010.
4. Gosliner, Terrence M.; Smith, Victor G. (2003). "Systematic review and phylogenetic analysis of the nudibranch genus Melibe (Opisthobranchia: Dendronotacea) with descriptions of three new species". Proceedings of The California Academy of Sciences. 54: 302–355.
5. Nomenclature, International Commission on Zoological (1981). "Opinion 1182 Tethyidae in Mollusca, Porifera and Tunicata: removal of homonymy". Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature. 38: 174–177.

External links

• Forbes E. (1844). Report on the Mollusca and Radiata of the Aegean sea, and on their distribution, considered as bearing on geology. Reports of the British Association for the Advancement of Science for 1843. 130-193
• Goodheart, J. A.; Bazinet, A. L.; Valdés, Á.; Collins, A. G.; Cummings, M. P. (2017). Prey preference follows phylogeny: evolutionary dietary patterns within the marine gastropod group Cladobranchia (Gastropoda: Heterobranchia: Nudibranchia). BMC Evolutionary Biology. 17(1)