Cuthona nana is a species of sea slug, an aeolid nudibranch, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Tergipedidae.[2]

Cuthona nana
Cuthona nana illustration from A monograph of the British nudibranchiate Mollusca
Scientific classification
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C. nana
Binomial name
Cuthona nana
(Alder & Hancock, 1842)[1]
Synonyms
  • Eolis nana Forbes,1840
  • Precuthona peachii (Alder & Hancock, 1848)

Taxonomic history edit

This species was named in 1842. In 1848 the same authors described Eolis peachii from Fowey harbour, Cornwall. The two species were considered to be the same by Brown, 1980.[3]

Distribution edit

Cuthona nana was described from specimens found under stones near low water mark at Cullercoats and Whitley Bay on the North Sea coast of England.[1] It is reported from the NE Atlantic from Greenland and Spitsbergen south to Brittany, France.[4]

Ecology edit

Feeds on the hydroid Hydractinia echinata.[5]

References edit

  1. ^ a b Alder J. & Hancock A. (1842). Descriptions of several new species of nudibranchous mollusca found on the coast of Northumberland. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 9: 31-36
  2. ^ Gofas, S. (2014). Cuthona nana (Alder & Hancock, 1842). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species on 2015-01-26
  3. ^ Brown, G. H. 1980. The British species of the aeolidacean family Tergipedidae (Gastropoda: Opisthobranchia) with a discussion of the genera. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 69(3):225-255.
  4. ^ Thompson, T.E. and Brown, G.H., 1984. Biology of Opisthobranch Molluscs, Volume II. The Ray Society. 229 pages 41 plates, 40 figures
  5. ^ Picton, B.E. & Morrow, C.C. (2015). Cuthona nana (Alder & Hancock, 1842).[In] Encyclopedia of Marine Life of Britain and Ireland.