Cuthona columbiana or Catriona

June 13, 2007
From: Bill Rudman

Concerning message #19979:

Clinton Bauder raises the question of whether Cuthona columbiana should be in the genus Catriona, where it is placed by most Nth American workers.  For many years I have followed Miller (1977) and Brown (1980) in placing most species of the Tergipedidae in the genus Cuthona. This followed a long period of uncertainty where  Cuthona, Trinchesia, Catriona, and sometimes Cratena, were all used rather randomly, Then Burn and others, introduced lots of monotypic genera to try and sort out the anomalies, which led to almost complete chaos. North American authors have continued to use both Catriona and Cuthona. Recently Michael C. Miller (2004) has proposed that Cuthona nana is the sole species of that genus and has resurrected Trinchesia for all the others. My feeling has always been that until we have a better understanding of the evolutionary relationships of the species in this family it is better to leave them all in one genus. It seems to me that taxonomy and nomenclature have two roles which are not always compatible - one is to provide a practical 'naming system' and the other is to produce a guide to the evolutionary history of a group. In this case, 'nibbling' at the problem by moving a species or two at a time, from one genus to another satisfies neither aim.

• Brown, G.H. (1980) The British species of the aeolidiacean family Tergipedidae (Gastropoda: Opisthobranchia) with a discussion of the genera. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 69: 225-255
• Miller, M. C. (1977) Aeolid nudibranchs (Gastropoda: Opisthobranchia) of the family Tergipedidae from New Zealand waters. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 60: 197-222.
• Miller, M. C. (2004) An appraisal of the identity of the New Zealand species of the aeolid family Tergipedidae (Gastropoda: Opisthobranchia). Journal of Natural History 38: 1183-1192.

Bill Rudman

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