Ercolania funerea
(A. Costa, 1867)

Order: SACOGLOSSA
Superfamily: LIMAPONTIOIDEA
Family: Limapontiidae

DISTRIBUTION

Alantic coast of Europe and Nth America, Caribbean.

PHOTO

Ukraine, Black Sea coast. Photo: Alexander Kurakin

Note: Ercolania funerea Costa 1867 is a junior synonym of Ercolania viridis Costa, 1866. All messages have been moved to that species page. See discussion - 7 June 2003.

Vayssiere (1888) describes specimens from Marseilles in some detail. In colour he describes the body as being translucent with a blackish green or violet green tinge. There is an opaque white mark on the head and another from the pericardial hump back down the median line between the cerata. The cerata have a blackish green tinge but the green branching of the digestive gland is clearly visible. There is often a reddish tip to the cerata. In some animals a blackish tinge to the skin dominates the colour of the animal.
Marcus & Marcus (1970) describe animals from Puerto Rico, in the Caribbean, as being 'blackish with clear rhinophores, tail, and pericardial area; cerata black with reddish brown tips; a patch of reddish brown on the head' which is very similar to this Black Sea animal.

References:
• Costa, A. (1867) Saggio sui molluschi eolididei del Golfo di Napoli. Annuario del Museo Zoologico della Universita di Napoli, 4(2): 26-37, pls. 1-2.
• Marcus, Er. & Marcus, Ev. (1970) Opisthobranchs from Curacao and faunistically related regions. Uitqaven van der Natuurwetenschappelijke Studiekring voor Suriname en de Nederlandse Antillen, 59: 1-129.
• Marin, A. & Ros, J.D. (1988) The Sacoglossa (Mollusca, Opisthobranchia) of the South East Iberian peninsula. A Catalogue of species and presence of algal chloroplasts in them. Iberus, 8(1): 25-49. [In Spanish]
• Vayssiere, A. J. B. M. 1888. Recherches zoologiques et anatomiques sur les mollusques Opisthobranches du Golfe de Marseille. Deuximem Partie, Nudibranches (Cirrobranches) et
Ascoglosses. Annales du Musee d'Histoire Naturelle de Marseille, 3. Mem. 4: 1-160, pls. l-17.

Authorship details
Rudman, W.B., 2002 (October 28) Ercolania funerea (A. Costa, 1867). [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/ercofune