Limapontiidae Explained

Limapontiidae is a taxonomic family of small to minute sacoglossan sea slugs. These are marine opisthobranch gastropod mollusks.^[1]

These sea slugs resemble nudibranchs, but are not closely related to them. Most of the species are green because of the green algae they eat and live on.

In the taxonomy of Bouchet & Rocroi (2005), the former family Stiligeridae is described as a synonym of the family Limapontiidae Gray, 1847, belonging to the superfamily Limapontioidea Jensen, 1996.

This family has no subfamilies.

Genera

The following genera belong to the family Limapontiidae:^{[2] [3]}

• Alderella Odhner in Franc, 1968
• Alderia Allman, 1846
• Alderiopsis Baba, 1968
• Calliopaea d'Orbigny, 1837
• Costasiella Pruvot-Fol, 1951 - 15 species^[4]
• Ercolania Trinchese, 1872
• Limapontia Johnston, 1836 - type genus
• Olea Agersborg, 1923
• Placida Trinchese, 1876
• Sacoproteus Krug et al. 2018^[5]
• Stiliger Ehrenberg, 1831

Genera brought into synonymy :

• Alderina Pruvot-Fol, 1954 : synonym of Alderella Odhner in Franc, 1968
• Chalidis Quatrefages, 1844 : synonym of Limapontia Johnston, 1836
• Custiphorus Deshayes, 1853 : synonym of Calliopaea d'Orbigny, 1837
• Laura Trinchese, 1873 : synonym of Placida Trinchese, 1876

References

• Jensen K.R. (2007) Biogeography of the Sacoglossa (Mollusca, Opisthobranchia). Bonner Zoologische Beiträge 55:255–281.

Notes and References

1. Bouchet, P.; Gofas, S. (2011). Limapontiidae. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=23063 on 2011-04-12
2. 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. .
3. Händeler . K. . Grzymbowski . Y. P. . Krug . P. J. . Wägele . H. . 2009 . Functional chloroplasts in metazoan cells - a unique evolutionary strategy in animal life . . 6 . 1. 28 . 10.1186/1742-9994-6-28 . 19951407 . 2790442 . free .
4. Swennen C. (31 August 2007). "Costasiella coronata, new species, and a revised diagnosis for the Family Costasiellidae (Mollusca: Opisthobranchia: Sacoglossa)". Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 55(2) : 355-362. PDF
5. Krug. P. J.. Wong. N. L. W.. Medina. M. R.. Gosliner. T. M.. Valdés. Á. A.. 2018. Cryptic speciation yields remarkable mimics: A new genus of sea slugs that masquerade as toxic algae (Caulerpa spp.). Zoologica Scripta. 47. 6. 699–713. 10.1111/zsc.12310. free.