Julia (gastropod) explained

Julia is a genus of minute sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks or micromollusks in the superfamily Oxynooidea.

Julia is the type genus of the family Juliidae.

Description

As Tryon (1884)^[1] wrote in his description of the genus Julia: the shell is oblong, thick, and cordiform. The valves are closed, the margins entire and the valves are inequilateral. The lunule is deep circular, projecting into the interior of the right valve, the left valve is in the same place furnished with dentiform tubercles. The hinge line is simple and arched. The ligament is external and narrow. There are two muscle scars which are unequal and subcentral.

These animals have two valves, and the soft parts can be completely withdrawn inside the shell.^[2] The two valves are usually thin and translucent.

The empty valves of the shells of these animals are in some cases green, in other cases brownish-green or yellow, and in yet others, colorless. The species Julia zebra has shells that are finely striped with brown and blotched with white.^[3]

Species

• (recent) Julia burni Sarma, 1975
• (invalid^[4] recent species) Julia cornuta (De Folin, 1867)
• (invalid^[4] recent species) Julia equatorialis Pilsbry & Olsson, 1944
• (recent) Julia exquisita Gould, 1862^[5] - this species was mentioned in report by the Challenger expedition^{[6] [7] [8]}
• (recent) Julia japonica Kuroda & Habe, 1951^[9]
• (recent) Julia mishimaensis Kawaguti & Yamasu, 1982^[10]
• (recent) Julia thecaphora (Carpenter, 1857) - a probable^[11] synonym is Julia zebra Kawaguti, 1981^[12]
• (recent) Julia zebra Kawaguti 1981

Notes and References

1. [George Washington Tryon|Tryon G. W.]
2. de Bruyne R. H. (2004). Encyklopedie ulit a lastur. Rebo Productions, 336 pp.,, p. 223.
3. Web site: Julia zebra: Shell.
4. Jensen K. R. (1996). "Phylogenetic systematics and classification of the Sacoglossa (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Opisthobranchia)". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society London B Biological Sciences 351(1335): 91-122. .
5. Rudman W. B. (4 October 2001). "Julia exquisita (Gould, 1862)" . Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney, accessed 10 May 2009.
6. http://www.19thcenturyscience.org/HMSC/HMSC-Reports/Zool-35/PDFpages/-13-35.html 19thCenturyScience.org
7. http://www.19thcenturyscience.org/HMSC/HMSC-Reports/Zool-35/PDFpages/13-35-273.pdf 19thCenturyScience.org
8. http://www.19thcenturyscience.org/HMSC/HMSC-Reports/Zool-35/PDFpages/13-35-274.pdf 19thCenturyScience.org
9. http://www.poppe-images.com/images/search_results.php?family=JULIIDAE Poppe-Images.com
10. Bolland R. F. (2001). "Okinawan Opisthobranch of the Week Julia exquisita". Last change of the page 12 March 2001.
11. Pittman C. (10 October 2001). "Julia zebra Kawaguti, 1981" . Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney, accessed 10 May 2009.
12. Kawaguti S. (1981). "A new bivalved gastropod Julia zebra". Bulletin of the Kawasaki Paramedical College 1: 9-13.