Tantulum elegans explained

Tantulum elegans is a species of freshwater slug, an aquatic shell-less gastropod mollusk within the clade Acochlidiacea.

This species has no shell. The maximum recorded length is 2 mm.^[1]

Tantulum elegans is the only species in the genus Tantulum, and that is in turn the only genus in the family Tantulidae.^[2]

Taxonomy

In 2005, Tantulidae was classified as the only family within the superfamily Hedylopsoidea in the taxonomy of Bouchet & Rocroi.

According to Schrödl & Neusser (2010)^[3] Tantulidae is in the clade Hedylopsacea.^[3]

Distribution

This species occurs in the Caribbean island of Saint Vincent. It was collected at an altitude of 411.5 m.^[1]

Ecology

Tantulum elegans are sequential hermaphrodites.^[4]

External links

• http://www.malacolog.org/search.php?mode=details&waspid=5103

Notes and References

1. Welch J. J. (2010). "The "Island Rule" and Deep-Sea Gastropods: Re-Examining the Evidence". PLoS ONE 5(1): e8776. .
2. Strong E. E., Gargominy O., Ponder W. F. & Bouchet P. (2008). "Global Diversity of Gastropods (Gastropoda; Mollusca) in Freshwater". Hydrobiologia 595: 149-166. .
3. 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. .
4. Neusser T. P. & Schrödl M. (2007). "Tantulum elegans reloaded: a computer-based 3D-visualization of the anatomy of a Caribbean freshwater acochlidian gastropod". Invertebrate Biology 126(1): 18-39. .