Amanda armata

Amanda armata, the night sky nudibranch, is a species of sea slug, specifically an aeolid nudibranch. It is a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Facelinidae.[2]

Night sky nudibranch
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Mollusca
Class:
Gastropoda
(unranked):
clade Heterobranchia
clade Euthyneura
clade Nudipleura
clade Nudibranchia
clade Dexiarchia
clade Cladobranchia
clade Aeolidida
Superfamily:
Aeolidioidea
Family:
Facelinidae
Subfamily:
Crateninae
Genus:
Amanda
Species:
A. armata
Binomial name
Amanda armata

Distribution

This species is endemic to South Africa, having only been found around the coast on both sides of the Cape Peninsula, intertidally to about 15 m.[3]

Description

The night sky nudibranch grows to between 10 and 20 mm in total length. It is a slender, pale-bodied nudibranch with groups of brown cerata having large white spots running down the length of the body. Its rhinophores are annulate, and there is a pair of elongated oral tentacles with white blotches.[4]

Ecology

The food and egg mass of this nudibranch are unknown.

References
  1. MacNae, William. 1954. On some eolidacean nudibranchiate molluscs from South Africa. Archived 2015-12-25 at the Wayback Machine Annals of the Natal Museum 13(1):1-50, pls. 1-2.
  2. Sartori, André F. (2014). Amanda armata Macnae, 1954. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species on 2015-02-27
  3. Gosliner, T.M. 1987. Nudibranchs of Southern Africa ISBN 0-930118-13-8
  4. Zsilavecz, G. 2007. Nudibranchs of the Cape Peninsula and False Bay. ISBN 0-620-38054-3
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.