Puneet Varma (Editor)

Phyllodesmium guamense

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Kingdom
  
Animalia

Class
  
Gastropoda

Family
  
Facelinidae

Scientific name
  
Phyllodesmium guamensis

Phylum
  
Mollusca

Superfamily
  
Aeolidioidea

Subfamily
  
Favorininae

Rank
  
Species

Phyllodesmium guamense is a species of sea slug, an aeolid nudibranch, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Facelinidae.

Contents

The specific name guamense refers to the island of Guam, its type locality.

Distribution

The type locality of Phyllodesmium guamense is Piti, Guam, Micronesia. Additional specimens were found in Cocos Island Lagoon nearby.

Description

Phyllodesmium guamense uses camouflage and it looks like the soft coral Sinularia. The maximum recorded length of the slug is 48 mm. This species contains zooxanthellae which are distributed throughout the inflated cerata.

Ecology

Phyllodesmium guamense feeds on Sinularia polydactyla, Sinularia maxima and Sinularia sp.

References

Phyllodesmium guamense Wikipedia