Aegires minor

Aegires minor
An individual of Aegires minor rearing up
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
(unranked):	clade Heterobranchia clade Euthyneura clade Nudipleura clade Nudibranchia clade Euctenidiacea clade Doridacea
Superfamily:	Polyceroidea
Family:	Aegiridae
Genus:	Aegires
Species:	A. minor
Binomial name
Aegires minor (Eliot, 1904)[1]

Aegires minor is a species of sea slug. It is a dorid nudibranch, a shell-less marine gastropod mollusc in the family Aegiridae.

Taxonomy

This species was previously known as Notodoris minor, but a 2004 paper established Notodoris as a junior synonym of the genus Aegires.^[2]

Description

An individual of Aegires minor crawling

Aegires minor can grow to 14 cm in length. The skin is toughened with tiny spicules. The upper surfaces have a few irregular pustules, while the small rhinophores are smooth and simple. The branched gills are located midway along the body and are partially hidden by three large lobes. The Aegires minor has a yellow background colour and a pattern of diagonal and transverse black lines arranged in a network covering the entire body. The gills and rhinophores are yellow, but in younger specimens and with some adults, there may be some black pigmentation.^[3]

Distribution

Aegires minor has been found in the Philippines, Solomon Islands, Mauritius, Tanzania, Oman, Indonesia, Okinawa, Papua New Guinea, and the Great Barrier Reef.^[4]

Diet

Aegires minor feeds on calcareous sponges belonging to the family Leucettidae. In the Indo-West Pacific, specimens have been recorded eating Leucetta primigenia.

References

1. ^ Eliot C. N. E. (1904). "On some nudibranchs from East Africa and Zanzibar. Part V." Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1904(2): 83-105, Pls. 3-4.
2. ^ Fahey S. J. & Gosliner T. M. (2004). "A Phylogenetic Analysis of the Aegiridae Fischer, 1883 (Mollusca, Nudibranchia, Phanerobranchia) with Descriptions of Eight New Species and a Reassessment of Phanerobranch Relationships". Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 55(34): 613-689. PDF.
3. ^ http://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet.cfm?base=notomino
4. ^ http://slugsite.us/bow/nudiwk83.html

Further reading

• Gosliner, T.M. Behrens, D.W. & Williams, G.C. (1996). Coral reef animals of the Indo-Pacific. Sea Challengers, Monterey, California. 314 pp.
• Marshall, J.G. & Willan, R.C. (1999). Nudibranchs of Heron Island, Great Barrier Reef. A survey of the Opisthobranchia (Sea Slugs) of Heron and Wistari Reefs. Backhuys Publishers, Leiden, The Netherlands, 257 pp.