Pseudunela marteli
| Pseudunela marteli | |
|---|---|
| A live Pseudunela marteli. dg - digestive gland, oo - oocyte. | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| Family: | Pseudunelidae |
| Genus: | Pseudunela |
| Species: | P. marteli
|
| Binomial name | |
| Pseudunela marteli Neusser, Jörger & Schrödl, 2011[1]
| |
Pseudunela marteli is a species of sea slug, an acochlidian, a shell-less marine gastropod mollusc in the family Pseudunelidae.
The specific name marteli is in honour of author's "big-hearted friend and colleague" biologist Martin “Martl” Heß from LMU Munich, because the species has a large heart-bulb.[1]
Distribution
Pseudunela marteli is known from Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, and Oyster Island, Vanuatu.[1] The type locality is beach of “Art Gallery”, Honiara, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands.[1]
Description
External morphology and anatomy of Pseudunela marteli is the same as in Pseudunela viatoris with the following exceptions:[1] Colour of digestive gland is greenish or orange-brownish.[1] Eyes (30–35 μm) are pigmented and well visible externally.[1] Foot length is up to half of the visceral hump.[1] Subepidermal spicules are more abundant in cephalic tentacles, foot and visceral hump.[1]
digestive system: the radula formula is 57–59×1.1.?; rhachidian tooth with 3–4 denticles per side.[1]
reproductive system: the hollow curved penial stylet measures 130 μm in length, the stylet of basal finger is 30 μm long.[1] The ampulla is sac-like; allosperm receptacles are absent in the examined specimen.[1] The albumen and mucous glands are tubular; the membrane gland is sac-like.[1]
Ecology
Pseudunela marteli is a minute species that lives in the spaces between sand grains in saltwater habitats, and it is thus considered to be a mesopsammic, marine interstitial animal that is part of the meiofauna of marine sands.[1]
References
This article incorporates CC-BY-2.5 text from the reference[1]
External links
- Media related to Pseudunela marteli at Wikimedia Commons