Phyllodesmium longicirrum
| Phyllodesmium longicirrum | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Phyllodesmium longicirrum, head end towards the lower left, crawling on its prey the soft coral Sarcophyton trocheliophorum | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| (unranked): |
clade Heterobranchia clade Euthyneura |
| Superfamily: | Aeolidioidea |
| Family: | Facelinidae |
| Subfamily: | Favorininae |
| Genus: | Phyllodesmium |
| Species: | P. longicirrum |
| Binomial name | |
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Phyllodesmium longicirrum (Bergh, 1905) |
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| Synonyms | |
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clade Euthyneura
clade Nudipleura
clade Nudibranchia
clade Dexiarchia
clade Cladobranchia
clade Aeolidida
Phyllodesmium longicirrum, common name the solar-powered phyllodesmium, is a species of sea slug, an aeolid nudibranch, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Facelinidae.
The distribution of Phyllodesmium longicirrum includes Australia and Indonesia.
This is a very large species, growing to at least 140 mm. Phyllodesmium longicirrum contains photosynthetic zooxanthellae, which allow it to draw energy from sunlight, hence its common name, the solar-powered phyllodesmium. This is actually a misleading name, as several other species of Phyllodesmium are also capable of photosynthesis, although this is developed to the greatest extreme in this species.
Phyllodesmium longicirrum feeds on soft coral Sarcophyton trocheliophorum (family Alcyoniidae).
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Wikipedia