Boselliidae
Encyclopedia
Bosellia is a genus
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of sea slugs, marine
Marine (ocean)
Marine is an umbrella term. As an adjective it is usually applicable to things relating to the sea or ocean, such as marine biology, marine ecology and marine geology...

 gastropod mollusks within the superfamily Placobranchoidea
Placobranchoidea
Placobranchoidea are a superfamily of sea slugs, marine gastropod mollusks within the clade Sacoglossa....

.

Bosellia is the only genus in the family Boselliidae. Such families are monotypic
Monotypic
In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group with only one biological type. The term's usage differs slightly between botany and zoology. The term monotypic has a separate use in conservation biology, monotypic habitat, regarding species habitat conversion eliminating biodiversity and...

 families and this family has no subfamilies.

Distribution

Distribution include warm waters in Mediterranean and in Atlantic ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...

. Reports from Indo-Pacific were not confirmed.

Species

Species within the genus Bosellia include 3 species and one with uncertain taxonomic status:
  • Bosellia cohellia Marcus, 1978 - uncertain taxonomic status
  • Bosellia corinneae Marcus, 1973
  • Bosellia leve Fernandez-Ovies & Ortea, 1986
  • Bosellia mimetica
    Bosellia mimetica
    Bosellia mimetica is a species of sea slug, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Boselliidae.The type locality is the island of Capri, in Italy....

    Trinchese, 1890


Phylogenetic results by Händeler et al. (2009) indicate that the Caribbean "Bosellia marcusi" described by Eveline Agnes du Bois-Reymond Marcus (1972) is a derived species of Elysia. Morphological examination indicates that the parapodia of "B. marcusi" have secondarily fused over the dorsum, producing a superficial similarity with Bosellia. Bosellia marcusi Marcus, 1972 is a synonym for Elysia marcusi (Marcus, 1972).

Further reading

  • Atucha A. M. & Aragonés J. D. R. (1989). "The chloroplast-animal association in four Iberian sacoglossan opisthobranchs: Elysia timida, Elysia translucens, Thuridilla hopei and Bosellia mimetica". Scientia Marina 53(2-3): 429-440. http://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=2187369
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK