Bosellia

Bosellia
Bosellia mimetica on Halimeda tuna. Locality: Mediterranean Sea. The length of the slug is about 1 cm.
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
(unranked):	clade Heterobranchia clade Euthyneura clade Panpulmonata clade Sacoglossa clade Plakobranchacea
Superfamily:	Plakobranchoidea
Family:	Boselliidae Ev. Marcus, 1982[1]
Genus:	Bosellia Trinchese, 1891[2]

Bosellia is a genus of sea slugs, marine gastropod mollusks within the superfamily Plakobranchoidea.^[3]

Bosellia is the only genus in the family Boselliidae.^[4][5] Such families are monotypic families and this family has no subfamilies.

Distribution

Distribution include warm waters in Mediterranean and in Atlantic ocean.^[6] Reports from Indo-Pacific were not confirmed.^[6]

Species

Species within the genus Bosellia include 3 species and one with uncertain taxonomic status:^[6]

• Bosellia cohellia Marcus, 1978 - uncertain taxonomic status^[6]
• Bosellia corinneae Marcus, 1973
• Bosellia leve Fernandez-Ovies & Ortea, 1986
• Bosellia mimetica Trinchese, 1890

Phylogenetic results by Händeler et al. (2009)^[5] indicate that the Caribbean "Bosellia marcusi" described by Eveline Agnes du Bois-Reymond Marcus (1972)^[7] is a derived species of Elysia. Morphological examination indicates that the parapodia of "B. marcusi" have secondarily fused over the dorsum, producing a superficial similarity with Bosellia. Bosellia marcusi Marcus, 1972 is a synonym for Elysia marcusi (Marcus, 1972).^[5]

References

This article incorporates CC-BY-2.0 text from reference.^[5]

1. Marcus E. D. B. R. (1982). The Journal of Mollusca Studies Suppl. 10: 18.
2. Trinchese S. (1891). Mem. Accad. Bologna (5)1: 271.
3. Bouchet, P. & Rocroi, J.-P. (2005). "Classification and Nomenclator of Gastropod Families". Malacologia 47 (1-2).
4. Jensen K. R. (1996). "Phylogenetic systematics and classification of the Sacoglossa (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Opisthobranchia)". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society London B Biological Sciences 351(1335 ): 91-122. doi:10.1098/rstb.1996.0006.
5. Händeler K., Grzymbowski Y. P., Krug P. J. & Wägele H. (2009) "Functional chloroplasts in metazoan cells - a unique evolutionary strategy in animal life". Frontiers in Zoology 6: 28. doi:10.1186/1742-9994-6-28 PMID 19951407.
6. Jensen K. R. (November 2007). "Biogeography of the Sacoglossa (Mollusca, Opisthobranchia)". Bonner zoologische Beiträge 55(2006)(3-4): 255–281.
7. Marcus E. D. B. R. (March 1972). "On some opisthobranchs from Florida". Bulletin of Marine Science 22(2): 284-308.

Further reading

• Atucha A. M. & Aragonés J. D. R. (1989). "The chloroplast-animal association in four Iberian sacoglossan opisthobranchs: Elysia timida, Elysia translucens, Thuridilla hopei and Bosellia mimetica". Scientia Marina 53(2-3): 429-440.