Notobranchaeidae

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Notobranchaeidae
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Clade: Euopisthobranchia
Order: Pteropoda
Superfamily: Clionoidea
Family: Notobranchaeidae
(Pelseneer, 1886)
Genera and species

See text

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]

Similar to other Pteropods, these pelagic marine heterobranch gastropod mollusks[3] are holoplanktonic.[4][5]

Morphology

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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

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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

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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

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Genera and species in the family Notobranchaeidae include:

Genus: Notobranchaea Pelseneer, 1886

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

References

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  8. ^ a b c d e f Pierrot-Bults, Annelies & Peijnenburg, K. (2015). Pteropods. Encyclopedia of marine geosciences. 1-10.
  9. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  10. ^ a b c Lemus, E., Sanvicente-Añorve, L., Hermoso-Salazar, M, Flores-Coto, C. (2014). "The holoplanktonic Mollusca from the southern Gulf of Mexico Part 2: pteropods" (PDF). Cahiers de Biologie Marine. 55: 241–258 – via ResearchGate.
  11. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  • Bouchet, P., Rocroi, J.-P. (2005). Classification and nomenclature of gastropod families. Malacologia. 47(1-2): 1-397 Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value)..
  • MolluscaBase (2019). MolluscaBase. Notobranchaeidae Pelseneer, 1886. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=23080 on 2019-04-16
  • Gofas, S.; Le Renard, J.; Bouchet, P. (2001). Mollusca. in: Costello, M. J. et al. (eds), European Register of Marine Species: a check-list of the marine species in Europe and a bibliography of guides to their identification. Patrimoines Naturels. 50: 180-213
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