Asteronotus spongicolus

Asteronotus spongicolus is a species of sea slug or dorid nudibranch, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Discodorididae.[2]

Asteronotus spongicolus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Mollusca
Class:
Gastropoda
(unranked):
clade Heterobranchia
clade Euthyneura
clade Nudipleura
clade Nudibranchia
Superfamily:
Doridoidea
Family:
Discodorididae
Genus:
Asteronotus
Species:
A. spongicolus
Binomial name
Asteronotus spongicolus
Gosliner & Valdes, 2002[1]

Distribution

This species was described from Zanzibar, Tanzania with additional material from the mainland coast of Tanzania and also from Lizard Island, North Queensland, Australia.[3] It is also known from Malaysia and the Philippines.[4]

Ecology

Asteronotus spongicolus feeds on the leafy sponge Carteriospongia sp. and is well camouflaged on the undersides of the sponge blades.

References
  1. Gosliner T.M. & Valdés A. 2002. Sponging off of Porifera: new species of cryptic dorid nudibranchs (Mollusca, Nudibranchia) from the tropical Indo-Pacific. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, (4) 53(5): 51-61.
  2. Bouchet, P. (2016). Asteronotus spongicolus Gosliner & Valdés, 2002. In: MolluscaBase (2015). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species on 2016-10-24.
  3. Rudman, W.B., 2003 (January 15) Asteronotus spongicolus Gosliner & Valdes, 2002. [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney.
  4. Gosliner T.M., Behrens D.W. & Valdés A. (2008) Indo-Pacific nudibranchs and sea slugs. Sea Challengers Natural History Books and California Academy of Sciences. 426 pp., page 174.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.