Ancula gibbosa

Atlantic ancula
Chromolithograph of Ancula gibbosa from Kunstformen der Natur (1904)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
(unranked): clade Heterobranchia

clade Euthyneura
clade Nudipleura
clade Nudibranchia
clade Euctenidiacea
clade Doridacea

Superfamily: Onchidoridoidea
Family: Goniodorididae
Genus: Ancula
Species: A. gibbosa
Binomial name
Ancula gibbosa
(Risso, 1818)[1]
Synonyms[2]
  • Tritonia gibbosa Risso, 1818
  • Polycera cristata Alder, 1841[3]
  • Miranda cristata (Alder, 1841)
  • Ancula sulphurea Stimpson, 1853
  • Ancula pacifica MacFarland, 1905

Ancula gibbosa, common name Atlantic ancula, is a species of dorid nudibranch. It is a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Goniodorididae.

Distribution

This species was described from the Mediterranean Sea at Nice, France. It has a wide distribution from there along the Atlantic coast to Norway, Greenland, Iceland and across to New England on the coast of North America. Ancula pacifica apparently has a number of colour varieties which closely approach this species and is currently believed to be a synonym.[4]

The nudibranch Ancula gibbosa, Rathlin Island, Northern Ireland.

Description

This goniodorid nudibranch has a translucent white body with yellow or white tipped processes.[5]

Ecology

Ancula gibbosa feeds on Ectoprocta. It has been reported to possibly feed on a variety of sessile organisms, but these are just the substratum to which the ectoprocts are attached.[5]

References

  1. ↑ (French) Risso A. (1818). "Memoire sur quelques Gasteropodes nouveaux, Nudibranches et Tectibranches observes dans la Mer de Nice". Journal de Physique, de Chimie, d'Histoire Naturelle et des Arts 87: 368-377. Tritonia gibbosa is on the page 371.
  2. ↑ "Ancula gibbosa (Risso, 1818)". Malacolog Version 4.1.1. A Database of Western Atlantic Marine Mollusca. Accessed 17 February 2010.
  3. ↑ Alder J. (1841). "Observations on the genus Polycera of Cuvier, with descriptions of two new British species". Annals and Magazine of Natural History. 6: 337–342. doi:10.1080/03745484109442937.
  4. ↑ Rudman, W.B., 2000 (March 24) Ancula gibbosa (Risso, 1818). [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney.
  5. 1 2 Picton, B.E. & Morrow, C.C., 2010. Ancula gibbosa [In] Encyclopedia of Marine Life of Britain and Ireland.
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