Pseudunela Explained

Pseudunela is a genus of minute sea slugs, acochlidians, shell-less marine or temporary brackish or brackish gastropod mollusks in the clade Acochlidiacea.

Pseudunela is the only genus in the family Pseudunelidae. Pseudunela is the type genus of the family Pseudunelidae.

Taxonomy

Pseudunelidae was placed within the superfamily Strubellioidea in the taxonomy of Bouchet & Rocroi (2005).

Pseudunelidae was subsequently placed within the (unranked) Hedylopsacea by Schrödl & Neusser (2010).^[1]

Species

These are the different species in the genus Pseudunela:^[2]

• Pseudunela cornuta (Challis, 1970) - type species of the genus Pseudunela, marine and temporary brackish
• Pseudunela eirene Wawra, 1988 - The description of Pseudunela eirene is brief and based on a single specimen with ganglia of the nervous system and stylets of copulatory organs studied on a whole-mount by light microscopy only. No histological sections were made, and the radula was studied light-microscopically after dissolving the soft parts and stylets. Information on other organ systems is absent, and no further specimens are available for study. Marine species.
• Pseudunela espiritusanta Neusser & Schrödl, 2009^[3] This species from Espiritu Santo Island in Vanuatu lives in brackish water^[3]
• Pseudunela marteli Neusser, Jörger & Schrödl, 2011 - marine
• Pseudunela viatoris Neusser, Jörger & Schrödl, 2011 - marine^[4]

Cladogram

A cladogram based on sequences of mitochondrial 18S ribosomal RNA, 16S ribosomal RNA and cytochrome-c oxidase I (COI) genes showing phylogenic relations of the genus Pseudunela:^[4]

References

This article incorporates CC-BY-2.0 text from reference.^[5]

Notes and References

1. Schrödl M. & Neusser T. P. (2010). "Towards a phylogeny and evolution of Acochlidia (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Opisthobranchia)". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 158: 124-154. .
2. Neusser. Timea P.. Jörger. Katharina M.. Schrödl. Michael. 2011-08-31. Cryptic Species in Tropic Sands - Interactive 3D Anatomy, Molecular Phylogeny and Evolution of Meiofaunal Pseudunelidae (Gastropoda, Acochlidia). PLOS ONE. 6. 8. e23313. 10.1371/journal.pone.0023313. 1932-6203. 3166138. 21912592. 2011PLoSO...623313N. free.
3. Neusser T. P. & Schrödl M. (2009) "Between Vanuatu tides: 3D anatomical reconstruction of a new brackish water acochlidian gastropod from Espiritu Santo. Zoosystema 31(3): 453-469. PDF
4. Neusser T. P., Jörger K. M. & Schrödl M. (2011). "Cryptic Species in Tropic Sands - Interactive 3D Anatomy, Molecular Phylogeny and Evolution of Meiofaunal Pseudunelidae (Gastropoda, Acochlidia)". PLoS ONE 6(8): e23313. .
5. Neusser T. P., Martin Heß M. & Schrödl M. (11 September 2009) "Tiny but complex - interactive 3D visualization of the interstitial acochlidian gastropod Pseudunela cornuta (Challis, 1970)". Frontiers in Zoology 2009, 6: 20.