Pseudunela marteli

Pseudunela marteli is a species of sea slug, an acochlidian, a shell-less marine gastropod mollusk in the family Pseudunelidae.

Pseudunela marteli
A live Pseudunela marteli.
dg - digestive gland,
oo - oocyte.
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Mollusca
Class:
Gastropoda
(unranked):
clade Heterobranchia
clade Euthyneura
clade Panpulmonata
clade Acochlidiacea
clade Hedylopsacea[1]
Family:
Pseudunelidae
Genus:
Pseudunela
Species:
P. marteli
Binomial name
Pseudunela marteli
Neusser, Jörger & Schrödl, 2011[2]

The specific name marteli is in honour of author's "big-hearted friend and colleague" biologist Martin “Martl” Heß from Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, because the species has a large heart-bulb.[2]

Distribution

Pseudunela marteli is known from Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands and Oyster Island, Vanuatu.[2] The type locality is beach of “Art Gallery”, Honiara, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands.[2]

Description

External morphology and anatomy of Pseudunela marteli is the same as in Pseudunela viatoris with the following exceptions:[2] Colour of digestive gland is greenish or orange-brownish.[2] Eyes (30–35 µm) are pigmented and well visible externally.[2] Foot length is up to half of the visceral hump.[2] Subepidermal spicules are more abundant in cephalic tentacles, foot and visceral hump.[2]

digestive system: the radula formula is 57–59×1.1.?; rhachidian tooth with 3–4 denticles per side.[2]

reproductive system: the hollow curved penial stylet measures 130 µm in length, the stylet of basal finger is 30 µm long.[2] The ampulla is sac-like; allosperm receptacles are absent in the examined specimen.[2] The albumen and mucus glands are tubular; the membrane gland is sac-like.[2]

Photo of a dorsal view of a live Pseudunela marteli. Body size is 3 mm.
lt – labial tentacle,
rh – rhinophore,
ey – eye,
hb – heart bulb,
f – foot,
vh – visceral hump.

Ecology

Pseudunela marteli is a minute species that lives in the spaces between sand grains in saltwater habitats, and it is thus considered to be a mesopsammic, marine interstitial animal that is part of the meiofauna of marine sands.[2]

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References

This article incorporates CC-BY-2.5 text from the reference[2]

  1. 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. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2009.00544.x.
  2. Neusser T. P., Jörger K. M. & Schrödl M. (2011). "Cryptic Species in Tropic Sands – Interactive 3D Anatomy, Molecular Phylogeny and Evolution of Meiofaunal Pseudunelidae (Gastropoda, Acochlidia)". PLoS ONE 6(8): e23313. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0023313.
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