Felimare nyalya
Species of sea slug
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Felimare nyalya is a species of colourful sea slug or dorid nudibranch, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Chromodorididae.[2][3]
| Felimare nyalya | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| Order: | Nudibranchia |
| Family: | Chromodorididae |
| Genus: | Felimare |
| Species: | F. nyalya |
| Binomial name | |
| Felimare nyalya | |
| Synonyms[2] | |
| |
Taxonomic history
This species was originally described as Chromodoris nyalya by Eveline and Ernst Marcus in 1967, based on specimens collected from the tropical western Atlantic.[1] It was later transferred to the genus Risbecia by Ortea, Valdés and García-Gómez in 1996 as Risbecia nyalya, during a revision of Atlantic blue chromodorids.[4] It was subsequently moved into the resurrected genus Felimare based on extensive molecular phylogeny of the chromodorid nudibranchs.[3]
Distribution
This species is found in the western Atlantic Ocean. Its known range includes the Caribbean Sea, the waters surrounding Cuba, and the Gulf of Mexico.[2][5]
Ecology
Like many other species within the family Chromodorididae, Felimare nyalya is a carnivorous marine gastropod that likely feeds on specific species of sponges.