Re: Aeolidiella faustina or A. drusilla?

November 22, 2007
From: Bill Rudman

Concerning message #4159:

Ron Greer's message [# 21143] has caused me to return to my earlier comments on the identity of this animal, which had been identified by some Australian authors as A. faustina Bergh, 1900. In my earlier comments I said that the radula morphology of an animal from Tasmania best fitted A. drusilla rather than A. faustina, but that we needed to know something about the anatomy of animals from New Zealand, where both species were first described. By chance Michael Miller in the same year published descriptions of the anatomy of both species from New Zealand and the radula of his New Zealand specimens of A. drusilla match the Tasmanian animal perfectly. So I no longer need to call the Australian animals Aeolidiella cf drusilla and will change the name of the Fact Sheet accordingly.

I should also reiterate that Bergh's A. faustina from New Zealand is clearly a synonym of  Spurilla macleayi which had earlier been described from Australia. Miller (2001) discusses the strong possiblity that the two species are the same.

  • Miller, M. C. (2001) Aeolid nudibranchs (Gastropoda: Opisthobranchia) of the family Aeolidiidae from New Zealand waters. Journal of Natural History 35: 629-662.

Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2007 (Nov 22) Re: Aeolidiella faustina or A. drusilla?. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/21172

Factsheet

Aeolidiella drusilla

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