Lomanotus vermiformis

Lomanotus vermiformis is a species of sea slug, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Lomanotidae.[3]

Lomanotus vermiformis
Lomanotus vermiformis on substrate with egg mass.
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Mollusca
Class:
Gastropoda
(unranked):
clade Heterobranchia

clade Euthyneura
clade Nudipleura
clade Nudibranchia
clade Dexiarchia
clade Cladobranchia

clade Dendronotida
Superfamily:
Tritonioidea
Family:
Lomanotidae
Genus:
Lomanotus
Species:
L. vermiformis
Binomial name
Lomanotus vermiformis
Eliot, 1908[1]
Synonyms[2]
  • Lomanotus stauberi Clark & Goetzfried, 1976

Taxonomy

This species was synonymised with the Caribbean species Lomanotus stauberi in 1988.[2]

The specific name vermiformis is from Latin language and it means "in the shape of a worm" referring to elongate body of this species.[4]

Distribution

The distribution of Lomanotus vermiformis is circumtropical.[5] This species was described from the Red Sea.[1] It has also been reported widely from tropical seas in the Indo-Pacific region. Records from the Western Atlantic includes Florida, Bahamas and Panama.[5]

Description

The body shape is very elongate and narrow.[5] Rhinophoral sheaths are with papillae and they are elevated to cover three quarters of the rhinophores.[5] Cerata are very short and pointed.[5] Background color is brown with dark brown spots and opaque yellow lines.[5] Opaque white reticulations is also present across the body.[5] The maximum recorded body length is 40 mm,[5][6] but it is usually smaller than 25 mm.[4]

Ecology

Minimum recorded depth is 1 m.[6] Maximum recorded depth is 4.5 m.[6]

Lomanotus vermiformis feeds on the common stinging hydroid Lytocarpus philippinus[4] and on hydroids of the genus Macrorhynchia.[5] It was also found feeding on an unidentified species of hydroid in Panama, on which it is extremely cryptic.[5]

Lomanotus vermiformis can swim with lateral flexions of the body when disturbed.[5]

References

This article incorporates Creative Commons (CC-BY-4.0) text from the reference[5]

  1. Eliot C. N. E. (1908). "Reports on the marine biology of the Sudanese Red Sea XI. Notes on a collection of nudibranchs from the Red Sea". Journal of the Linnean Society, Zoology, 31: 86-122.
  2. Willan R. C. (1988). "The taxonomy of two host-specific, cryptic dendronotoid nudibranch species (Mollusca: Gastropoda) from Australia including a new species description". Zool. J. Linn. Soc. 94(1): 39-64.
  3. Rosenberg, G. (2014). Lomanotus vermiformis Eliot, 1908. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=532992 on 2014-10-09
  4. Rudman W. B. (1999, August 12) Lomanotus vermiformis Eliot, 1908. Sea Slug Forum, Australian Museum, Sydney.
  5. Goodheart J. A., Ellingson R. A., Vital X. G., Galvão Filho H. C., McCarthy J. B., Medrano S. M., Bhave V. J., García-Méndez K., Jiménez L. M., López G. & Hoover C. A. (2016). "Identification guide to the heterobranch sea slugs (Mollusca: Gastropoda) from Bocas del Toro, Panama". Marine Biodiversity Records 9(1): 56. doi:10.1186/s41200-016-0048-z
  6. Welch J. J. (2010). "The “Island Rule” and Deep-Sea Gastropods: Re-Examining the Evidence". PLoS ONE 5(1): e8776. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0008776.
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