Molluscan ResearchISSN 1323-5818
 An international journal of the Malacological Society of Australasia published by Magnolia Press


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Molluscan Research 26(1): 23-38; published 22 May 2006
Copyright © The Malacological Society of Australasia

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

SIDNEY K. PIERCE 1 , NICHOLAS E. CURTIS 1 , STEVEN E. MASSEY 1 , ANNA L. BASS 1 , STEPHEN A. KARL 1 & COLIN M. FINNEY 
1 Department of Biology, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 33620, USA. Email: pierce@cas.usf.edu
2 Division of Mathematics and Science, University of the Virgin Islands, St. Thomas, VI 00802

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.

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Copyright © 2005-2006 Magnolia Press Published : 22 May 2006