Limapontiidae

Limapontiidae
Costasiella cf. kuroshimae on Avrainvillea erecta. Locality: Lizard Island, Great Barrier Reef. The length of the slug is about 1 cm.
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
(unranked):	clade Heterobranchia clade Euthyneura clade Panpulmonata clade Sacoglossa clade Placobranchacea
Superfamily:	Limapontioidea
Family:	Limapontiidae Gray, 1847[1]
Genera
See text.
Synonyms
Pontolimacidae Keferstein, 1863 Stiligeridae Iredale & O'Donoghue, 1923 Oleidae O'Donoghue, 1926 Alderiidae Pruvot-Fol, 1954 Ercolaniinae Schmekel & Portmann, 1982 Costasiellidae K. B. Clark, 1984

Limapontiidae is a taxonomic family of small to minute sacoglossan sea slugs. These are marine opisthobranch gastropod mollusks. ^[2]

These sea slugs resembling nudibranchs, but are not closely related to them. Most of the species are green because of the green algae they eat and live on.

In the taxonomy of Bouchet & Rocroi (2005), the former family Stiligeridae is described as a synonym of the family Limapontiidae Gray, 1847, belonging to the superfamily Limapontioidea Jensen, 1996.

This family has no subfamilies.

Ercolania kencolesi inside of Boergesenia cf. forbesii. Locality: Lizard Island, Great Barrier Reef. The length of the slug is about 0.5 cm.

Genera

The following genera belong to the family Limapontiidae^[3][4]:

• Alderella Odhner in Franc, 1968
• Alderia Allman, 1846
• Alderiopsis Baba, 1968
• Calliopaea d'Orbigny, 1837
• Costasiella Pruvot-Fol, 1951 - 15 species^[5]
• Ercolania Trinchese, 1872
• Limapontia Johnston, 1836 - type genus
• Olea Agersborg, 1923
• Placida Trinchese, 1876
• Stiliger Ehrenberg, 1831

Genera brought into synonymy 

• Alderina Pruvot-Fol, 1954 : synonym of Alderella Odhner in Franc, 1968
• Chalidis Quatrefages, 1844 : synonym of Limapontia Johnston, 1836
• Custiphorus Deshayes, 1853 : synonym of Calliopaea d'Orbigny, 1837
• Laura Trinchese, 1873 : synonym of Placida Trinchese, 1876

References

1. ^ Gray J. E. (1847). Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 15: 167.
2. ^ Bouchet, P.; Gofas, S. (2011). Limapontiidae. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=23063 on 2011-04-12
3. ^ Jensen K. R. (1996). "Phylogenetic systematics and classification of the Sacoglossa (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Opisthobranchia)". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society London B Biological Sciences 351(1335 ): 91-122. doi:10.1098/rstb.1996.0006.
4. ^ Händeler K., Grzymbowski Y. P., Krug P. J. & Wägele H. (2009) "Functional chloroplasts in metazoan cells - a unique evolutionary strategy in animal life". Frontiers in Zoology 6: 28. doi:10.1186/1742-9994-6-28.
5. ^ Swennen C. (31 August 2007). "Costasiella coronata, new species, and a revised diagnosis for the Family Costasiellidae (Mollusca: Opisthobranchia: Sacoglossa)". Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 55(2): 355-362. PDF

• Jensen K.R. (2007) Biogeography of the Sacoglossa (Mollusca, Opisthobranchia). Bonner Zoologische Beiträge 55:255–281.

External links