Family GASTROPTERIDAE Swainson, 1840

Family Gastropteridae. Sagaminopteron psychedelicum.(from Beesley, Ross & Wells 1998) [R. Plant]

Museums

Regional Maps

• Gastropteridae Swainson, W. 1840. A treatise on malacology or the natural classification of shells and shell-fish. London : Longman, Brown, Green & Longmans 419 pp. [May 1840].

  Type genus:

   Gastropteron Kosse, 1813.

Introduction

The very wide parapodia, the ability of many species to swim, the general lack of a shell except in the earliest stages of development, the very reduced mantle cavity where the gill has moved forward and is exposed, separate gastropterids from the allied philinids and aglajids. Most species have the posterior end of the head shield narrowed, highly raised and curved forward, sometimes to level with or even in front of the anterior edge of the head. The animal possesses a radula but not gastral plates. Gastropterids are renowned for their striking colours and patterns, especially among the smaller species of which local waters boast several undescribed species. Compiled from Burn (in press).

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. [954]

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

History of changes