Tritoniidae is a
taxonomic family of
nudibranch
Nudibranchs () are a group of soft-bodied marine gastropod molluscs, belonging to the order Nudibranchia, that shed their shells after their larval stage. They are noted for their often extraordinary colours and striking forms, and they have b ...
s in the suborder
Cladobranchia, shell-less
marine gastropod
Gastropods (), commonly known as slugs and snails, belong to a large Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda ().
This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, freshwater, and fro ...
mollusc
Mollusca is a phylum of protostome, protostomic invertebrate animals, whose members are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 76,000 extant taxon, extant species of molluscs are recognized, making it the second-largest animal phylum ...
s.
[MolluscaBase (2018)]
Tritoniidae Lamarck, 1809.
Accessed on 2021-01-01 This family includes some of the largest known nudibranchs, with the NE Atlantic species ''
Tritonia hombergii'' reaching 20 cm in length. It is the only family in the
monotypic
In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...
superfamily Tritonioidea.
Distribution
These nudibranchs occur worldwide in warm and temperate seas and in the coldest waters and deep sea, wherever the
octocorals which they eat are found.
Ecology
Members of the family Tritoniidae feed on octocorals, including sea pens, alcyonarian soft corals, and gorgonians, often being cryptic in shape and colouration upon them.
[García-Matucheski, S. and Muniain, C. (2011). Predation by the nudibranch ''Tritonia odhneri'' (Opisthobranchia:Tritoniidae) on octocorals from the South Atlantic Ocean. Marine Biodiversity, 41(2), 287–297.] They share this trait with the
Arminidae which were previously thought to be only distantly related, but have been shown to be closely related to the Tritoniidae by a recent study.
[Korshunova, T.; Martynov, A. (2020)]
Consolidated data on the phylogeny and evolution of the family Tritoniidae (Gastropoda: Nudibranchia) contribute to genera reassessment and clarify the taxonomic status of the neuroscience models ''Tritonia'' and ''Tochuina''.
PLOS ONE. 15(11): e0242103.
Genera
The genera in the family Tritoniidae include:
* ''
Duvaucelia''
Risso, 1826
* ''
Marianina''
Pruvot-Fol, 1931
* ''
Marionia''
Vayssiere, 1877
* ''
Paratritonia''
Baba, 1949
* ''
Tochuina''
Odhner, 1963
* ''
Tritonia''
Cuvier, 1798
* ''
Tritonicula''
Korshunova & Martynov, 2020
* ''
Tritonidoxa''
Bergh, 1907
* ''
Tritoniella''
Eliot, 1907
* ''
Tritoniopsis''
Eliot, 1905
References
{{Authority control
Gastropod families