Family AEOLIDIIDAE Gray, 1827

Family Aeolidiidae. Aeolidiella .(from Beesley, Ross & Wells 1998) [S. Weidland]

Museums

Regional Maps

Introduction

Generally large and broad animals with a close covering of cerata. The cerata are cylindrical or somewhat flattened, with the first rows beside the rhinophores. The foot is broad, the anterior corners tentaculiform. The rhinophores may be smooth, bear low oblique ridges, densely papillate all round or on the rear face only, or annulate. The radula is a single series of broadly arched, mostly medianly indented, pectinate (comb-like) teeth. Most species feed on anemones.

The genus Aeolidia is also thought to occur in Australia based on two undescribed species, one recorded by Marshall & Willan (1999) from QLD and NT, and another by Willan (2005) from Ashmore & Cartier Reef, Timor Sea.

General References

Beesley, P.L., Ross, G.J.B. & Wells, A. (eds) 1998. Mollusca: The Southern Synthesis. Fauna of Australia. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing Vol. 5(Part B) pp. vi–viii, 565–1234. [1013]

Burn, R. 2006. A checklist and bibliography of the Opisthobranchia (Mollusca: Gastropoda) of Victoria and the Bass Strait area, south-eastern Australia. Museum Victoria Science Report 10: 1-42

Burn, R. 2015. Nudibranchs and Related Molluscs. Melbourne : Museum Victoria pp. 272.

Marshall, J.G. & Willan, R.C. 1999. Nudibranchs of Heron Island, Great Barrier Reef. Leiden : Backhuys 257 pp. [153] (Aeolidia sp. 1)

Willan, R.C. 2005. The molluscan fauna from the emergent reefs of the northernmost Sahul Shelf, Timor Sea — Ashmore, Cartier and Hibernia Reefs; biodiversity and zoogeography. pp. 51-81 in Russell, B.C. et al. (eds). Understanding the Cultural and Natural Heritage values and Management Challenges of the Ashmore Region. The Beagle, Records of the Museums and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory Suppl. 1: 248 pp. [76] (Aeolidia sp. 1)

History of changes