Elysia (gastropod)
Elysia | |
---|---|
![]() | |
A live individual of Elysia ornata, head end towards the left | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Mollusca |
Class: | Gastropoda |
Superorder: | Sacoglossa |
Superfamily: | Plakobranchoidea |
Family: | Plakobranchidae |
Genus: | Elysia Risso, 1818 |
Type species | |
Notarchus timidus Risso, 1818
| |
Species | |
See text | |
Synonyms[1] | |
|
Elysia is a genus of sea slugs, marine gastropod molluscs in the family Plakobranchidae. These animals are colorful sea slugs, and they can superficially resemble nudibranchs, but are not very closely related to them. Instead they are sacoglossans, commonly known as sap-sucking slugs.[1]
Elysia sea slugs graze on algae and some species such as E. viridis and E. chlorotica hijack the chloroplasts for themselves. The chloroplasts end up lining the slug’s digestive tract, enabling the slugs to survive solely by photosynthesis for several months at a time. This association is crucial for the development and maturing of the slug. Exactly how the slugs use the chloroplasts is unclear, as many of the proteins used by chloroplasts are encoded in the genome of the host cell. These proteins, numbering in the hundreds, are manufactured in the cell’s nucleus, and then moved into the chloroplast, enabling it to survive.[2]
Young specimens of and E. marginata became known for their ability to regenerate the whole body from a severed head. This autotomy expels internal parasites.[3]
This genus was previously sometimes considered to be in the family Stiligeridae, and was also previously placed in the family Elysiidae.
Species[]
Species in the genus Elysia include:[1][4]
- Elysia abei Baba, 1955
- Elysia amakusana Baba, 1955
- Ortea, 2017
- Ortea, Caballer, Moro & Espinosa, 2005
- Mehrotra, Caballer, C.M. Scott, Arnold, Monchanin & Chavanich, 2020
- Wagele, Stemmer, Burghardt & Handeler, 2010[5]
- Baba, 1955[6]
- Elysia australis (Quoy & Gaimard, 1832)
- Pruvot-Fol, 1946
- Elysia bangtawaensis Swennen, 1997
- (Pease, 1860)
- Swennen, 2011
- Thompson, 1973
- (K. R. Jensen & Wells, 1990)
- Krug, Vendetti & Valdés, 2016
- Er. Marcus, 1955
- Elysia catulus (Gould, 1870)
- Er. Marcus, 1957
- Ortea, 2017
- Eliot, 1916
- '' Er. Marcus, 1955 (nomen dubium)
- Elysia chlorotica Gould, 1870 - eastern emerald elysia, emerald elysia
- Krug, Vendetti & Valdés, 2016
- Elysia clarki Pierce, Curtis, Massey, Bass, Karl & Finney, 2006
- (Angas, 1864)
- Nuttall, 1989
- Elysia crispata Mørch, 1863 - lettuce slug
- Ortea, Caballer, Moro & Espinosa, 2005
- Ostergaard, 1955
- Ortea, 2017
- Elysia diomedea (Bergh, 1894)
- Ortea, Espinosa & Caballer, 2013
- Ortea & Bacallado, 2014
- Ortea & Esponosa, 2002
- Marcus, 1957
- (O'Donoghue, 1924)
- Jensen & Wells, 1990
- Verrill, 1901
- Ichikawa, 1993
- Jensen, 1990
- Ortea, 2018
- Burn, 1958
- Elysia gordanae Thompson & Jaklin, 1988
- Elysia grandifolia Kelaart, E.F. (1858)
- Bergh, 1872
- Bergh, 1905
- Baba, 1957
- Er. Marcus, 1961
- Eliot, 1899
- Perrone, 1990
- Baba, 1955
- Eliot, 1913
- Ortea, Moro & Bacallado, 2017
- Ortea, Moro, Caballer & Espinosa, 2011
- Baba, 1957
- Caballer, Ortea & Espinosa, 2013
- Jensen, 1990
- Elysia lobata Gould, 1852
- Marcus, 1982
- Ortea & Moro, 2009
- Elysia maoria Powell, 1937
- (Marcus, 1972) - synonym: Bosellia marcusi Marcus, 1972[7]
- Fez, 1962[6]
- Elysia marginata Pease, 1871
- (Pruvot-Fol, 1930)
- Ichikawa, 1993
- Ostergaard, 1955
- Baba, 1957
- (Pease, 1871)
- Thompson, 1977
- Elysia obtusa Baba, 1938
- Mørch, 1859
- Ortea, Moro, Caballer & Espinosa, 2011
- Elysia ornata (Swainson, 1840) - ornate elysia
- A. E. Verrill, 1901 - papillose elysia
- Munian & Ortea, 1997
- Ev. Marcus, 1980
- Krug, Vendetti & Valdés, 2016
- Risbec, 1928
- Ortea & Espinosa, 1996
- Kelaart, 1857
- Thompson, 1977
- Elysia pusilla Bergh, 1872 - synonym: Elysiella pusilla
- Martín-Hervas, Carmona, Jensen, Licchelli, Vitale & Cervera, 2020
- Elysia rufescens (Pease, 1871)
- Ortea, 2017
- Ortea, Moro, Caballer & Espinosa, 2011 (nomen dubium)
- Ev. Marcus & Er. Marcus, 1967 (nomen dubium)
- Elysia serca Er. Marcus, 1955 - Caribbean seagrass elysia, seagrass elysia
- Hamatani, 1968
- Swennen, 1997
- Swennen, 2011
- Er. Marcus & Ev. Marcus, 1966
- (Jensen, 1997)
- Elysia subornata A. E. Verrill, 1901
- Baba, 1955
- Jensen, 1993
- Elysia timida Risso, 1818
- Baba, 1957
- Elysia tomentosa Jensen, 1997
- Pruvot-Fol, 1957
- Heller & Thompson, 1983
- Elysia trisinuata Baba, 1949
- Ev. Marcus and Er. Marcus, 1967
- Jensen, 1985
- Elysia viridis (Montagu, 1804) - plant-sucking slug
- Marcus & Marcus, 1970
- Baba, 1936
- Ortea & Espinosa, 2002
- Species brought into synonymy
- Elysia arena Carlson & Hoff, 1978: synonym of (Carlson & Hoff, 1978)
- Elysia bedeckta MacFarland, 1966: synonym of Elysia hedgpethi Er. Marcus, 1961
- Elysia cauze scops Ev. Marcus & Er. Marcus, 1967: synonym of Elysia scops Ev. Marcus & Er. Marcus, 1967
- Elysia gracilis Risbec, 1928: synonym of Thuridilla gracilis (Risbec, 1928)
- Elysia halimedae Macnae, 1954: synonym of Elysia pusilla (Bergh, 1871)
- Elysia picta A. E. Verrill, 1901: synonym of (A. E. Verrill, 1901)
- Elysia pruvotfolae Er. Marcus, 1957: synonym of Elysia crispata Mørch, 1863
- Elysia schrammi Mörch, 1863: synonym of Elysia crispata Mørch, 1863
- Elysia splendida Grube, 1861: synonym of Thuridilla hopei (Vérany, 1853)
- Elysia thysanopoda Bergh, 1905: synonym of (Bergh, 1905)
- Elysia vataae Risbec, 1928: synonym of Thuridilla vataae (Risbec, 1928)
- Elysia verrilli Pruvot-Fol, 1946: synonym of Elysia crispata Mørch, 1863
- Taxa inquirenda:
- Elysia fezi Vilella, 1968
- Elysia pruvotae Risbec, 1953
References[]
- ^ a b c Bouchet, P.; Gofas, S. (2010). Elysia Risso, 1818. In: Bouchet, P.; Gofas, S.; Rosenberg, G. (2010) World Marine Mollusca database. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=137928 on 2010-12-14
- ^ BBC News item
- ^ Baker, Harry (2021-03-08). "This sea slug can chop off its head and grow an entire new body, twice". Live Science. Retrieved 2021-03-09.
- ^ "Elysia". Integrated Taxonomic Information System.
- ^ Wägele, Heike; Stemmer, Kristina; Burghardt, Ingo; Händeler, Katharina (2010). "Two new sacoglossan sea slug species (Opisthobranchia, Gastropoda): Ercolania annelyleorum sp. nov. (Limapontioidea) and Elysia asbecki sp. nov. (Plakobranchoidea), with notes on anatomy, histology and biology". Zootaxa. 2676 (1): 1–28. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.2676.1.1.
- ^ a b Mitoh, Sayaka; Yusa, Yoichi (2021). "Extreme autotomy and whole-body regeneration in photosynthetic sea slugs". Current Biology. 31 (5): R233–R234. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2021.01.014. See also:
- Michelle Starr: These Self-Decapitating Sea Slugs Can Grow an Entire New Body on The Old Head, on: sciencealert, 8 March 2021.
- ^ Händeler, Katharina; Grzymbowski, Yvonne P; Krug, Patrick J; Wägele, Heike (2009). "Functional chloroplasts in metazoan cells – a unique evolutionary strategy in animal life". Frontiers in Zoology. 6 (1): 28. doi:10.1186/1742-9994-6-28. PMID 19951407.
Further reading[]
- Powell A. W. B., New Zealand Mollusca, William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1979 ISBN 0-00-216906-1
- Jensen K.R. (2007) Biogeography of the Sacoglossa (Mollusca, Opisthobranchia). Bonner Zoologische Beiträge 55:255–281
- Händeler K. & Wägele H. (2007) Preliminary study on molecular phylogeny of Sacoglossa and a compilation of their food organisms. Bonner Zoologische Beiträge 55: 231-254.
- http://www.catalogueoflife.org accessed 11 June 2009
- SEM images of the radula can be found at Thompson, T.E.; Bebbington, A. (1973). "Scanning electron microscope studies of gastropod radulae". Malacologia. 14: 147–165.
![]() |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Elysia. |
External links[]
- Plakobranchidae
- Gastropod genera
- Taxa named by Antoine Risso