Tritoniidae

The Tritoniidae are a taxonomic family of dendronotid nudibranchs, shell-less marine gastropod molluscs.[1] This family includes some of the largest known nudibranchs, with the NE Atlantic species Tritonia hombergii reaching 20 cm in length.

Tritoniidae
A live individual of Tritonia festiva in situ
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Subclass: Heterobranchia
Order: Nudibranchia
Suborder: Cladobranchia
Superfamily: Tritonioidea
Family: Tritoniidae
Menke, 1828
Genera

See text

Distribution

These nudibranchs occur worldwide in warm and temperate seas and in the coldest waters and deep sea, wherever the octocorals which they eat are found.

Ecology

Members of the family Tritoniidae feed on octocorals, including sea pens, alcyonarian soft corals, and gorgonians, often being cryptic in shape and colouration upon them.[2] They share this trait with the Arminidae which were previously thought to be only distantly related, but have been shown to be closely related to the Tritoniidae by a recent study.[3]

Genera

The genera in the family Tritoniidae include:

Genera brought into synonymy
  • Candiella Gray, 1850: synonym of Tritonia Cuvier, 1797
  • Euphurus Rafinesque, 1815: synonym of Tritonia Cuvier, 1797
  • Mariana Pruvot-Fol, 1930: synonym of Marianina Pruvot-Fol, 1931
  • Marioniopsis Odhner, 1934: synonym of Marionia Vayssiere, 1877
  • Microlophus Mabille & Rochebrune, 1889: synonym of Tritonia Cuvier, 1797
  • Myrella Odhner, 1963: synonym of Tritonia Cuvier, 1797
  • Tritoniopsilla Pruvot-Fol, 1933: synonym of Tritoniopsis Eliot, 1905 (invalid: unnecessary substitute name for Tritoniopsis Eliot, 1905, which is not a junior homonym of Tritonopsis Conrad, 1865)

References
  1. MolluscaBase (2018). Tritoniidae Lamarck, 1809. Accessed on 2021-01-01
  2. García-Matucheski, S. and Muniain, C. (2011). Predation by the nudibranch Tritonia odhneri (Opisthobranchia:Tritoniidae) on octocorals from the South Atlantic Ocean. Marine Biodiversity, 41(2), 287–297.
  3. Korshunova, T.; Martynov, A. (2020). Consolidated data on the phylogeny and evolution of the family Tritoniidae (Gastropoda: Nudibranchia) contribute to genera reassessment and clarify the taxonomic status of the neuroscience models Tritonia and Tochuina. PLOS ONE. 15(11): e0242103.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.