Paraganitus sp
Order: ACOCHLIDEA
Suborder: MICROHEDYLOIDEA
Family: Microhedylidae
DISTRIBUTION
Known only from tropical Pacific
PHOTO
extracted from a shallow subtidal sand sample from the Palolo Deep reserve on Upolu Island, Western Samoa. 4 mm when crawling. Photo: Michael Schroedl.
This is the first report of the interstitial acochlidian genus Paraganitus from Western Samoa. The specimen (4 mm when crawling) was extracted from a shallow subtidal sand sample from the Palolo Deep reserve on Upolu Island. The species may be P. ellynnae Challis, 1968, that was originally described from the Solomon Islands and later reported from some other tropical Indo-Pacific localities. Internally, Paraganitus (as well as Ganitus) is characterized by having single sacoglossan-like, dagger-shaped radular teeth; rhinophores are relatively short in Paraganitus while completely reduced in Ganitus.
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Challis, D.A. 1968. A new genus and species of the order Acochlidiacea (Mollusca: Opisthobranchia) from Melanesia. Transactions of the Royal Society New Zealand (Biol. Sci.) 10: 191-197.
Schroedl, M., 2006 (February 3) Paraganitus sp [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet/parasp
