Cuthona luciae
| Cuthona luciae | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| (unranked): | clade Heterobranchia clade Euthyneura |
| Superfamily: | Fionoidea |
| Family: | Tergipedidae |
| Genus: | Cuthona |
| Species: | C. luciae |
| Binomial name | |
| Cuthona luciae Valdés, Medrano & Bhave, 2016[1] | |
Cuthona luciae is a species of sea slug, an aeolid nudibranch, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Tergipedidae.
The specific name luciae is in honour of Lucı́a Valdés, the daugter of malacologist Ángel Valdés.[1]
Type specimens are stored in the Museo de Malacologı́a, University of Panama and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.[1]
Distribution
Distribution of Cuthona luciae includes area from Florida to Panama.[1] It lives possibly also in Brazil.[1] The type locality is Crawl Cay, Bocas del Toro Archipelago, Panama.[1]
Description
The body length is up to 12 mm.[1] It has yellow cerata.[1] Each cerata has one blue band.[1] Oral tentacles are orange. There is a blue band on the head. The reproductive system contains penial stylet.[1]
Cuthona caerulea is similar species.[1] They differ in radula, jaw, reproductive system.[1]
Cuthona herrerai is another similar species.[1] They differ in radula.[1] Cuthona herrerai has no orange oral tentacles and it has no blue band on the head.[1]
Cuthona iris is also similar to Cuthona luciae.[1]
Ecology
It was recorded from the depth of 1 m.[1]
Cuthona luciae was found on unidentified hydroids.[1] It may be its prey, because hydroids are also prey of other Cuthona species.[1]