Marine Biodiversity Records

Table of Contents - Volume 5 - 2012  

Research Article

On the occurrence of the Caribbean sea slug Thuridilla mazda in the eastern Atlantic Ocean

Manuel António E. Malaquiasa1 c1, Gonçalo Caladoa2, João Filipe da Cruza2 and Kathe R. Jensena3

a1 Phylogenetic Systematics and Evolution Research Group, University Museum of Bergen, Natural History Collections, University of Bergen, PB 7800, 5020-Bergen, Norway

a2 Luzophone University, Campo Grande 376, Lisbon, Portugal

a3 Zoological Museum (Natural History Museum of Denmark), Universitetsparken 15, DK-2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark

Abstract

The Caribbean gastropod species Thuridilla mazda was collected for the first time in eastern Atlantic shores, namely on the island of São Miguel, archipelago of the Azores. This new record raises the total number of opisthobranch species known in the Azores to 144 and shows the potential importance of the Gulf Stream for dispersal of Caribbean species across the North Atlantic and its putative impact on the marine colonization of the Azores.

(Received September 23 2011)

(Accepted October 25 2011)

Keywords

Correspondence:

c1 Correspondence should be addressed to: M.A.E. Malaquias, Phylogenetic Systematics and Evolution Research Group, University Museum of Bergen, Natural History Collections, University of Bergen, PB 7800, 5020-Bergen, Norway email: Manuel.Malaquias@um.uib.no