Review of Baeolidia, the largest genus of Aeolidiidae (Mollusca: Nudibranchia), with the description of five new species
Author
Carmona, Leila
Author
Pola, Marta
Author
Gosliner, Terrence M.
Author
Cervera, Juan Lucas
text
Zootaxa
2014
3802
4
477
514
journal article
45651
10.11646/zootaxa.3802.4.5
71e8a84e-1a9b-4849-9a09-ec2023643364
1175-5326
249605
4095CA09-8EA4-4941-8286-32E95F0206AE
Baeolidia faustina
(
Bergh, 1900
)
Aeolidiella faustina
Bergh, 1900
: 235
, pl. 20, Figs. 39–40.
Spurilla faustina
(
Bergh, 1900
)
:
Miller 2001
, 641,
Figs. 4–5
.
Type
locality.
Tasmania.
Type
material.
To our knowledge no
type
material remains.
Geographical distribution.
To date, only known from Tasmania (
Bergh 1900
),
New Zealand
(
Miller 2001
), and
Australia
(
Burn 1962
,
1969
,
2006
).
External and internal morphology.
Not properly described by
Bergh (1900)
. No specimens available for the present study.
Remarks.
Based on the original description and the figure of the radular tooth (
Bergh 1900
), it is very likely that this species belongs to
Baeolidia
. Nevertheless,
Bergh (1900)
did not provide any distinctive feature, which has blurred the identity and validity of this species. Since
Bergh (1900)
, only
Burn (1962)
and
Miller (2001)
have studied this species but both authors had some difficulties separating
B. faustina
from
B. macleayi
.
Burn (1962)
distinguished both species mainly by the position of the anus and the external colouration. Seven years later,
Burn (1969)
transferred all the specimens previously identified as
B. faustina
to
B. macleayi
.
Finally,
Burn (2006)
rendered
B. faustina
as junior synonym of
B. macleayi
.
Hence, since this name cannot be assigned to specimens, we conclude that
Baeolidia faustina
should be considered as
nomen dubium
.