Tenellia punicea explained

Tenellia punicea is a species of sea slug, an aeolid nudibranch, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Fionidae.^[1]

Distribution

This species was described from British Columbia, Canada, Pacific Ocean. It has been suggested that this species is synonymous with the Atlantic Ocean species Tenellia pustulata but this seems unlikely given the differences in colour, diet and anatomy. Only the 16S and H3 gene were sequenced and these are known to be identical in some other species pairs.^[2]

Ecology

Tenellia punicea feeds on a large purple athecate hydroid which is thought to be an undescribed species of Corymorpha.^[3]

Notes and References

1. Bouchet, P. (2014). Cuthona punicea Millen, 1986. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species on 2015-01-30
2. Cella, K; Carmona Barnosi, L.; Ekimova, I; Chichvarkhin, A; Schepetov, D; Gosliner, T. M. (2016). A radical solution: The phylogeny of the nudibranch family Fionidae. PLoS ONE. 11(12): e0167800.
3. Rudman, W.B. (2003) (October 19) Cuthona punicea Millen, 1986. [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney.

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