Author: Baba, 1949

Order: Nudibranchia  Family: Facelinidae

Maximum Size: 12 mm

Sightings: Sunshine Coast

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Facelinella anulifera Baba, 1949

Previously known on this site as Cratena sp. 04. Changed: 04/05/2021 based upon images in NSSI II p. 304 and Slug Site BOW #1139.

Also known as Phidiana anulifera.

We are currently following the nomenclature of NSSI II with Facelinella and Caloria.

Some background:

– Baba, 1949 raised the genus Facelinella with the type species Facelinella quadrileata and also described Facelinella anulifera at the same time.

– Pease, 1860 described Aeolis semidecora – that became Facelinella semidecora at some stage.

– Gosliner, 1979 made Facelinella anulifera a junior synonym of F. semidecora. He also stated that the genera in Facelinidae should be retained as distinct until more accurate relationships can be assessed in future.

– Hirano & Ito, 1998 synonymized Facelinella with Facelina.

– NSSI II, 2018 – uses both Facelinella anulifera & Facelinella semidecora.

– WoRMS – uses Phidiana anulifera, Phidana semidecora & Facelina quadrilineata for those species.

References:

– Pease, W. H. (1860). Descriptions of new species of Mollusca from the Sandwich Islands in the collection of Hugh Cuming. Proceedings of the Zoological Society London 1860: 18-36.

– Baba, K. (1949). Opisthobranchia of Sagami Bay. Iwanami Shoten, Tokyo.

– Gosliner, T. M. (1979). The systematics of the Aeolidacea (Nudibranchia: Mollusca) of the Hawaiian Islands, with descriptions of two new species. Pacific Science 33: 37–77

– Hirano, Y. J. & Ito, M. (1998). “Facelinella quadrilineata (Baba, 1930)”, a Pair of Cryptic Species of Facelina from Japan, Zoological Science 15: 791-797

– Gosliner, T.M., Valdés, Á., Behrens, D.W. (2018). Nudibranch and Sea Slug Identification: Indo-Pacific – 2nd Ed. New World Publications, Jacksonville, Florida. – (NSSI II)

– Opisthobranch of the Week, Week #1139, Facelinella anulifera (20/04/2020), Mike Miller’s slugsite.tierranet.com by Dave Behrens, image by Jim Black.

– MolluscaBase eds. (2021). MolluscaBase. Facelinella Baba, 1949. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=720278. – (WoRMS)