Onchidella patelloides

Taxobox
name = "Onchidella patelloides"
status =
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Mollusca
classis = Gastropoda
ordo = Systellommatophora
familia = Onchidiidae
genus = "Onchidella"
species = "O. patelloides"
binomial = "Onchidella patelloides"
binomial_authority = (Quoy & Gaimard, 1832)
synonyms = "Onchidium patelloides"
Quoy & Gaimard, 1832

"Onchidella patelloides" is a species of small, air-breathing sea slug, a shell-less marine pulmonate gastropod mollusc in the family Onchidiidae.

For more information on this unusual family of air-breathing sea slugs see Onchidiidae.

Distribution

This species is endemic to New Zealand including the Chatham Islands.

Habitat

This sea slug is found in the mid intertidal zone.

Description

This species, along with all others in the family, does not have a shell, and has the general appearance of a limpet. Its dorsal surface is granular, with large papillae.

Coloration is yellowish-green to brown, with patches of dark grey.

Length is up to 26 mm, and width is up to 17 mm.

Life habits

"Onchidella patelloides" moves across damp rocks very swiftly (for a gastropod), feeding on the surface film of minute plants and debris which it picks up with its hard radula.

References

* Powell A. W. B., "New Zealand Mollusca", William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1979 ISBN 0-00-216906-1