''Phyllidia guamensis'' is a
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
of
sea slug
Sea slug is a common name for some marine invertebrates with varying levels of resemblance to terrestrial slugs. Most creatures known as sea slugs are gastropods, i.e. they are sea snails (marine gastropod mollusks) that over evolutionary t ...
, a dorid
nudibranch, a shell-less
marine
Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean.
Marine or marines may refer to:
Ocean
* Maritime (disambiguation)
* Marine art
* Marine biology
* Marine debris
* Marine habitats
* Marine life
* Marine pollution
Military
* ...
gastropod
The gastropods (), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda ().
This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, from freshwater, and from land. T ...
mollusk
Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is e ...
in the family
Phyllidiidae
Phyllidiidae is a family of sea slugs, dorid nudibranchs, marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Phyllidioidea.
This family is within the clade Doridacea (according to the taxonomy of the Gastropoda by Bouchet & Rocroi, 2005).
Distributi ...
.
[Bouchet, P. (2015)]
''Phyllidia guamensis'' (Brunckhorst, 1993).
In: MolluscaBase (2015). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species on 2016-10-27.
Distribution
This rare species was described from
Guam
Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...
. It has been reported from the Northern
Mariana Islands
The Mariana Islands (; also the Marianas; in Chamorro: ''Manislan Mariånas'') are a crescent-shaped archipelago comprising the summits of fifteen longitudinally oriented, mostly dormant volcanic mountains in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, betw ...
and the
Marquesas Islands
The Marquesas Islands (; french: Îles Marquises or ' or '; Marquesan: ' ( North Marquesan) and ' ( South Marquesan), both meaning "the land of men") are a group of volcanic islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France in th ...
.
[Rudman, W.B., 1999 (July 15]
''Fryeria guamensis'' Brunckhorst, 1993.
n/nowiki> Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney.
Description
This nudibranch has a black dorsum with large yellow-capped tubercles surrounded by pale blue rings. Towards the edge of the mantle these tubercles become small and increasingly numerous, without any yellow caps. The rhinophores are yellow.
[
]
Diet
This species feeds on a sponge.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q14094411
Phyllidiidae
Gastropods described in 1993