Re: Elysia cornigera from Florida

December 24, 2000
From: Anna L. Bass

Dear Dr. Rudman,
When I first started trying to figure out what species I had found, my thought was E. timida. As I couldn't find any records for it outside of the Meditterranean, I had doubts. Although I found it on Caulerpa, I didn't assume it was feeding on that, and Acetabularium was present in the area.

Thanks for your opinion regarding this. Hopefully, I will be able to confirm the presence of E. timida in Florida. Anyone in the Meditteranean willing to send a specimen of E. timida for molecular analysis?

Best Regards and Happy Holidays,
Anna

Anna L. Bass
Department of Biology, SCA 110
University of South Florida
4202 E. Fowler Ave.,
Tampa, Florida 33620-5150

abass@helios.acomp.usf.edu

Bass, A.L., 2000 (Dec 24) Re: Elysia cornigera from Florida. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/3428

Dear Anna,
It's certainly interesting. Probably worth having another look at the radula of the two as well - and checking out Acetabularia for some more specimens.

Two questions spring to mind. Is Elysia cornigera just a colour form of Elysia timida? It is possible that radular differences may not be so different if a number of animals from both the Caribbean and Mediterranean are looked at. It could also be possible, though probably unlikely that both E. timida and E. cornigera both occur in the Caribbean. What it seems to me is needed is quite a few more specimens to study variability in colour and anatomy. Even if you show there are molecular differences between your two specimens from the Caribbean and Mediterranean animals, it still doesn't demonstrate that there is only one species in the Caribbean.

Like many observations we make, your animals to raise more questions than they resolve.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman.

Rudman, W.B., 2000 (Dec 24). Comment on Re: Elysia cornigera from Florida by Anna L. Bass . [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/3428

Factsheet

Elysia cf. timida

Related messages

  1. Re: Elysia cf. timida from the Florida Keys
    From: Andrej Jaklin, July 16, 2004
  2. Elysia cf. timida from the Florida Keys
    From: Anna L. Bass , March 25, 2004
  3. Elysia cf. timida? from Southern Bahamas
    From: Marina Poddubetskaia, February 20, 2004
  4. Re: Elysia cornigera from Florida
    From: Kathe R. Jensen, January 15, 2001
  5. Re: Elysia cf cornigera from Florida
    From: Bill Rudman, December 23, 2000
  6. Elysia cornigera (?) from Florida
    From: Anna L. Bass, December 21, 2000

Show factsheet and all related messages