Veil snail
| Veil snail | ||||||||||||
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Tethys fimbria , 30 m depth, Archi, Reggio Calabria, Italy |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Tethys fimbria | ||||||||||||
| Linnaeus , 1767 |
The veil snail ( Tethys fimbria ) is a large shell -less snail of the Mediterranean from the suborder of the nudibranch , which moves swimming near the ground and feeds on crabs.
features
The veil snail can be 30 cm long. Your body is strongly flattened and has an extensive funnel-shaped veil (velum) on the head, which is covered on the edge with numerous sensory papillae. The head has no antennae and the rhinophores are small and cone-shaped. The snail has neither a jaw nor a radula . The back has two rows of simple leaf-shaped appendages that fall off slightly ( autotomy ) and then move for a while. So they can distract enemies. There are gills next to each extension on the back. The snail is translucent and has black spots on the dorsal processes and sometimes on the edge of the foot and the veil.
Distribution and way of life
The veil snail lives in the Mediterranean Sea and on the African and European coasts of the Atlantic Ocean from Portugal to the Gulf of Guinea .
When resting, the veil snail prefers sandy or muddy substrate at depths of 20 to 150 meters. She moves freely swimming.
The veil snail feeds on small crabs , which it catches with its veil.
History of the system
In 1758, in the 10th edition of his Systema Naturae, Carl von Linné described a genus Tethys with the two species Tethys limacina and Tethys leporina . While he does not list any sources for the first species, he mentions Guilelmus Rondeletius as the first source for the second species , in whose work Libri de Piscibus Marinis from 1554 a picture of a sea hare , obviously of the species Aplysia fasciata , is shown. In the 12th edition of the Systema Naturae in 1767, a completely different description of the same generic name followed, this time the species names Tethys leporina and Tethys fimbria being listed. Linnaeus refers here to the Fimbria depicted in 1761 by Johann Baptist Bohadsch and other sources, through which both described species can be identified as the veil snail , while the picture of Rondeletius now describes the genus Laplysia , previously mentioned in the same work as Aplysia . Linné's descriptions from 1767 formed the basis for the later and still valid use of the generic names Tethys and Aplysia , although there have been suggestions to stick to the first publication. However, the name Tethys limacina cannot be clearly assigned to any animal species and is therefore a dubious name. In 1954 the International Commission for Zoological Nomenclature determined Linné's descriptions from 1767 as valid, although the contradicting descriptions from 1758 are older. Thus the naturalized scientific names were retained. For the veil snail, Tethys fimbria is the valid name and Tethys leporina is a synonym . In 1981 the name of the family was set to Tethydidae (with d ) in order to distinguish it from the sponges of the family Tethyidae (type genus Tethya ), while the generic name of the sea squirts Tethyus is now invalid.
literature
- Luise Schmekel, Adolf Portmann: Opisthobranchia of the Mediterranean: Nudibranchia and Saccoglossa . Springer-Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg New York 1982. Tethys Linnaeus, 1767 : p. 156.
- Adam Sedgwick, Joseph Jackson Lister, Sir Arthur Everett Shipley: A Student's Text-book of Zoology: Protozoa to Chaetognatha . S. Sonnenschein and Company, 1898. Tethyidae : p. 412.
- Carol M. Lalli and Ronald W. Gilmer: Pelagic Snails: The Biology of Holoplanktonic Gastropod Mollusks. 259 S., Stanford, Calif., Stanford Univ. Pr., 1989 ISBN 0-8047-1490-8
Web links
- Veil snail (Tethys fimbria) , from Brehms Thierleben , on zeno.org
- WB Rudman (2002), The Sea Slug Forum: Tethys fimbria Linnaeus, 1767
- Dominique Horst (2008), The Sea Slug Forum: The marvelous and strange Tethys fimbria
Individual evidence
- ↑ Carolus Linnaeus : Systema Naturae. 10th ed., Lars Salvius: Stockholm 1758, p. 653, 254. Tethys. Corpus oblongum, bilabiatum: corpusculo medio cartilagineo oblongo. Tentacula duo, cuneiformia. Formaina duo, spirantia. Tethys limacina. 1. T. auriculis quatuor. Habitat in Oceano Australi. Corpus oblongum, antice quasi 4 auriculis acutis instructum. Tethys leporina. 2. T. corpore rubro, margine membranaceo, auriculis duabus. Habitat in M. Mediterraneo. Round. pisc. 1. p. 520. Lepus marinus. Bell. aquat. 437. Lepus marinus. Gesn. aquat. 475. Lepus marinus. Aldr. exsangu. 78. Lepus marinus.
- ↑ Guilelmus Rondeletius : Libri de piscibus marinis in quibus verae piscium effigies expressae sunt . Liber XVII, Lugdunum 1554. p. 520. Lepus marinus .
- ^ Johann Baptist Bohadsch : De quibusdam animalibus marinis . Dresdae 1761.
- ↑ Carolus Linnaeus : Systema Naturae. 12th ed., Laurentius Salvius: Stockholm 1767, p. 1089. 289. Tethys. Corpus liberum, oblongiusculum, carnosum, apodum. Os proboscide terminale, cylindrica, sub labis explicato. Foramina 2 ad latis colli sinistrum. Tethys leporina. 1. T. labro ciliato. Habitat in Mari Mediterraneo. Column. aquat. 27. + 26. Lepus marinus major. Tethys fimbria. 2. T. labro crenulato. Habitat in mari adritico. Bohads. mar. 54 t. 5. f. 1.2. Fimbria. Videtur a praecedenti distincti species.
- ↑ Henry A. Pisbry (1895): On the status of the names Aplysia and Tethys . Proceedings of The Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 1895 (Part II), pp. 347-350.
- ↑ International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature: Opinion 200, 1954. Validation, under the plenary powers, of the accustomed usage of the generic names Tethys Linnaeus, 1767, and Aplysia Linnaeus, 1767 (Class Gastropoda) . Opinions and Declarations rendered by the ICZN, 3 (19), pp. 239-266.
- ^ RV Melville (Secretary ICZN), International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature: Opinion 1182, 1981. Tethyidae in Mollusca, Porifera and Tunicata: Removal of homonymy . Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature 38 (3), 1981, pp. 174-177.