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Issue: Vol. 26 No. 1: 22 May 2006
Type: Articles
Published: 2006-05-22
DOI: 10.11646/mr.26.1.4
Page range: 23–38
Abstract views: 22
PDF downloaded: 0

A morphological and molecular comparison between Elysia crispata and a new species of kleptoplastic sacoglossan sea slug (Gastropoda: Opisthobranchia) from the Florida Keys, USA

Department of Biology, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 33620, USA.
Department of Biology, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 33620, USA.
Department of Biology, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 33620, USA.
Department of Biology, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 33620, USA.
Department of Biology, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 33620, USA.
Division of Mathematics and Science, University of the Virgin Islands, St. Thomas, VI 00802
Tridachia crispata Elysia clarki chloroplast symbiosis kleptoplasty

Abstract

A comparison of Elysia (=Tridachia) crispata (Mörch, 1863) from the Virgin Islands with elysiid slugs from the mangrove swamps and canals in the Florida Keys that have previously been identified as E. crispata reveals many differences in habitat, gross and microscopic anatomy, food preferences of juveniles, sources of symbiotic chloroplasts and their localization within the digestive tubules, radular morphology, and nucleic acid sequences of two genes. The differences between the two groups of slugs are such that the Florida Keys animals are considered to represent a new species, Elysia clarki.