''Phyllodesmium rudmani'' is a species of sea slug, an aeolid nudibranch, a

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 ...

mollusc 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 esti ...

in the family

Facelinidae The Facelinidae are a taxonomic family of colorful sea slugs. These are specifically aeolid nudibranchs. They are marine gastropod molluscs.Bouchet, P. (2012). Facelinidae. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinesp ...

. The specific name ''rudmani'' is in honor of malacologist William B. Rudman.

Distribution

The distribution of ''Phyllodesmium rudmani'' includes North

Sulawesi Sulawesi (), also known as Celebes (), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the world's eleventh-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Mindanao and the Sulu Ar ...

, Indonesia and Luzon, the Philippines.

Description

The length of the slug is up to 45 mm. Its cerata are similar to (

mimicry In evolutionary biology, mimicry is an evolved resemblance between an organism and another object, often an organism of another species. Mimicry may evolve between different species, or between individuals of the same species. Often, mimicry f ...

) closed polyps of soft coral of the genus '' Xenia''.Rudman, W.B., 2007 (February 17
''Phyllodesmium rudmani'' Burghardt & Gosliner, 2006.
n/nowiki> Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Xenia sp

''Phyllodesmium rudmani'' contain endo

symbiotic Symbiosis (from Greek , , "living together", from , , "together", and , bíōsis, "living") is any type of a close and long-term biological interaction between two different biological organisms, be it mutualistic, commensalistic, or parasit ...

zooxanthellae of the genus '' Symbiodinium''.

References

External links

* http://slugsite.us/bow2007/nudwk546.htm * http://slugsite.us/bow/nudiwk05.htm * Facelinidae Gastropods described in 2006 {{Facelinidae-stub