Colour variation in Ancula gibbosa
March 6, 2001
From: Bernard Picton
Hi Bill,
I see there is some debate over Ancula gibbosa and A. pacifica, and whether A. gibbosa occurs on the Pacific coast of North America. I enclose pictures of:
UPPER PHOTO: typical A. gibbosa with yellow markings (Millisle, Co. Down, Nthn Ireland) and
LOWER PHOTO: aberrant white form (Kilroot, Belfast Lough) without these markings. The
latter is already represented by Daniel Geiger's picture from Swansea.
I see also that you say Bernard Picton says Ancula feeds on minute animals living on bryozoans - actually I used the name kamptozoans which is a synonym of Entoprocta - so I agree with your conclusions about the food of
Ancula pacifica. I prefer to use Kamptozoa as I get confused between Entoprocta and Ectoprocta - Both used to be in the Phylum Polyzoa (Bryozoa) so Ectoprocta now = Bryozoa - confused yet?
In my earlier messages I have shown that species of Trapania also feed on Entoprocts (Kamptozoans).
Bernard
bernard.picton.um@nics.gov.uk
Picton, B., 2001 (Mar 6) Colour variation in Ancula gibbosa. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/3910Thanks Bernard,
Firstly on feeding. I should have been more precise, 'minute animals' is not very informative. Considering that you have shown that Trapania also eats them [Entoprocta, Kamptozoa], they are definitely important enough to be named so I have changed the reference at the top of the page.
The more photos I see of Atlantic animals the more I wonder if Ancula pacifica is really the same species. The anatomy and radula seem quite similar, but these characters may not be useful in distinguishing species in this genus.
Are Thompson & Brown (1984) the only ones who have considered these species to be synonymous? They say: "Specimens found along the Californian coast, described under the name Ancula pacifica MacFarland, 1905, have extra pigment patches on the dorsum, but apparently lack other morphological differences"
If this is the only argument in favour of synonymising them, it doesn't seem very convincing to me. I would be grateful for anyone else's views or information.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman
Related messages
-
Ancula gibbosa from California
From: Clinton Bauder, May 31, 2007 -
Re: Ancula from NE Pacific
From: Jan Kocian, June 3, 2006 -
Re: more Ancula from NE Pacific
From: Jan Kocian, June 1, 2006 -
Ancula from NE Pacific
From: William Hevener, May 29, 2006 -
Spotted Ancula from eastern Russia
From: Alexei Chernyshev, January 13, 2006 -
Ancula pacifica from South Korea
From: Dong Bum Koh, July 16, 2005 -
Spotted Ancula from NE Pacific
From: Sandra Millen, July 11, 2005 -
Ancula pacifica from Vancouver, Canada
From: Paul Sim, June 13, 2005 -
Re: Supplement to Pacific Coast Nudibranchs
From: Joao Pedro T. L. S. Silva, July 23, 2004 -
Ancula gibbosa from Massachusetts, USA
From: Alan Shepard, January 13, 2003 -
Ancula gibbosa from New England
From: Alan Shepard, March 20, 2002 -
Re: Ancula pacifica feeding photos
From: Jeff Goddard, June 29, 2000 -
Ancula pacifica feeding
From: Bruce Wight, June 28, 2000 -
Ancula pacifica mating
From: Bruce Wight, June 20, 2000 -
Ancula pacifica in Oregon and Washington
From: Jeff Goddard, June 12, 2000 -
A photo of 'typical' Ancula pacifica
From: Dave Behrens, June 11, 2000 -
Photos from British Columbia
From: Marli Wakeling, June 3, 2000 -
Ancula gibbosa white-spotted version
From: Marli Wakeling, May 28, 2000 -
Ancula gibbosa colour variety
From: Sandra Millen, May 19, 2000 -
Differences between species of Ancula
From: Sylvain LE BRIS , March 26, 2000