Notobranchaeidae
Family of gastropods
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Notobranchaeidae, or "naked sea butterflies", are a taxonomic family of floating sea slugs, specifically under the subclass Opistobranchia, also called "sea angels".[1][2]
| Notobranchaeidae | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| Clade: | Euopisthobranchia |
| Order: | Pteropoda |
| Superfamily: | Clionoidea |
| Family: | Notobranchaeidae (Pelseneer, 1886) |
| Genera and species | |
|
See text | |
Similar to other Pteropods, these pelagic marine heterobranch gastropod mollusks[3] are holoplanktonic.[4][5]
Morphology
While they are not particularly strong swimmers, the foot of these organisms is modified into wing-like structures, called parapodia that they employ for locomotion.[5] Additionally, like other Pteropods of the order Gymnosomata,[6] Notobrachaeidae lack shells entirely as adults.[7][8] However, they do possess a shell earlier on in their lives.[8] They are also defined by how they possess a posterior gill, strong jaws, grasping tentacles that frequently possess suckers resembling those of cephalopods, and usually buccal cones as well.[9]
Behavior
Like other members of the clade Gymnosomata, Notobrachaeidae are highly specialized holoplanktonic carnivores.[10] In other words, they spend their entire lives hunting in the water column and cannot swim against the column.[10] Also like other members of this clade, Notobrachaeidae feed are very specific prey, with a species in this clade usually specializing in hunting one specific genus of thecosomes, which are also known as "sea butterflies," and form a sister clade to Gymnosomata with the primary difference being how adults of that clade possess shells into adulthood while Gymnosomata do not.[8][10]
Distribution
Members of this family are found globally throughout the upper reaches of the water column, in the pelagic zone, most commonly the epipelagic zone.[8] Following the trend of Pteropods in general, they tend to have the highest species diversity tropical and subtropical latitudes but are less abundant under these conditions.[8] Conversely, they are more abundant but possess less variety in terms of species closer to the north and south poles.[8] However, even in the tropics, they generally appear in high concentrations, resulting in their frequently playing important roles in planktonic food webs.[4][5][11]
Genera and species
Genera and species in the family Notobranchaeidae include:
Genus: Notobranchaea Pelseneer, 1886
- Notobranchaea bleekerae van der Spoel & Pafort-van Iersel, 1985
- Distribution : Oceanic
- Notobranchaea grandis Pruvot-Fol, 1942
- Distribution : Oceanic
- Length : 15 mm
- Notobranchaea hjorti (Bonnevie, 1913)
- Notobranchaea inopinata Pelseneer, 1887
- Distribution : Oceanic
- Length : 5 mm
- Notobranchaea longicollis (Bonnevie, 1913)
- Notobranchaea macdonaldi Pelseneer, 1886
- Distribution : Bermuda, Oceanic
- Length : 5 mm
- Notobranchaea tetrabranchiata Bonnevie, 1913
- Distribution : Oceanic
- Length : 16 mm
- Notobranchaea valdiviae Meisenheimer, 1905
- Genera brought into synonymy
- Microdonta Bonnevie, 1913: synonym of Notobranchaea Pelseneer, 1886 (invalid: junior homonym of Microdonta Dejean, 1835 [Coleoptera]; Schleschia is a replacement name)
- Prionoglossa Tesch, 1950: synonym of Notobranchaea Pelseneer, 1886
- Schleschia Strand, 1932: synonym of Notobranchaea Pelseneer, 1886