Home Guide to Opisthobranchs Cephalaspidea Haminoeoidea Weinkauffia turgidula

Weinkauffia turgidula

Weinkauffia turgidula (Forbes, 1844)

Weinkauffia turgidula by Lluís Toll

Taxonomy
 

Superdomain

Biota  

 

Kingdom

Animalia  

 

Phylum

Mollusca  

 

Class

Gastropoda  

 

Subclass

Heterobranchia  

 

Infraclass

Euthyneura  

 

Subterclass

Tectipleura  

 

Order

Cephalaspidea  

 

Superfamily

Haminoeoidea  

 

Family

Haminoeidae  

 

Genus

Weinkauffia  

 

Species

Weinkauffia turgidula  (Forbes, 1844)

 
 Classification according to Bouchet et al. (2017)
Taxonomic source: World Register of Marine Species (AphiaID: 140080).
Synonyms

  • Bulla diaphana Aradas & Maggiore, 1840
  • Bulla turgidula Forbes, 1844 (original)
  • Scaphander gibbulus Jeffreys, 1856
  • Weinkauffia diaphana (Aradas & Maggiore, 1840)
  • Weinkauffia semistriata (Réquien, E., 1848)

Description
This species has a fully developed shell, although semitransparent and very fragile. Its shape is distinctly oval, being wider in the middle and with a strong narrowing at both ends; the leading end has a pointed shape and the rear end has a flatter shape, showing two to three very distinct sutures. The spiral is hidden by the last turn, where a small navel is visible. Moreover, this last turn causes the opening exceed the length of the shell. On the last turn there is an spiral sculpture, but only in the basal area. It also has very fine spiral grooves separated from one another; 3-4 at the front end and 5-6 in the rear end. The shell does not exceed 7mm in length. The animal’s body does not usually exceed 10 mm. Bright orange dots could be seen through the shell (they are more abundant in the front and read ends, and although less abundant, also in the central zone), they have different intensities so they seem to form three transversal bands. Besides some smaller yellowish and white dots could be observed irregularly scattered. The cephalic disc is well developed, it is bilobed on the anterior side and has two conical pointed processes at the rear that begin right behind the two eyes, which are clearly visible. The parapodial lobes are well developed and cover most of the “neck” of the animal. The foot is wide on the front end and goes beyond the sides and front of the cephalic disc, forming a short tail on the read side that protrudes slightly from the shell. Both the foot and the cephalic disc are semitransparent and usually have black and white scores, more abundant in the middle of the foot, right below the shell.

Biology
It has been cited living in coastal muddy bottoms with abundant organic matter and Posidonia oceanica rhizomes, between 0 and 40 m depth (Gofas et al., 2011). Nothing else is known about its biology and food habits.

Etymology

  • Weinkauffia. Dedicated to the German zoologyst and malacologyst Heinrich Conrad Weinkauff (1817-1886).
  • Turgidula. Feminine of Latin “turgidulus”, diminutive of “turgidus”, meaning somewhat swollen, inflamed.

Distribution
It is an European range species that has been found in both the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts, also in the Canary Islands and Madeira. In the Iberian Peninsula it is cited in the Portuguese coast, in the Andalusian Mediterranean coast and the Levantine coast (Cervera et al., 2004). In Catalonia it has been found alive on a sandy bottom in front of Lloret de Mar (Costa Brava) at 52 m deep. Most citations of this species are based on empty shells observed when analyzing marine sediments.

Known georeferenced records of the species: Weinkauffia turgidula
Sources:
: OBIS
: GROC 2010-2011
: Enric Madrenas
: João Pedro Silva
: Bernard Picton
: GBIF.ORG		 : OPK
: VIMAR
: Manuel Ballesteros.
: M@re Nostrum
: Altres fonts
: Marine Regions

Abundance

    Western Mediterranean: ☆☆☆☆☆
    Eastern Mediterranean: ☆☆☆☆☆
    Atlantic Ocean: ☆☆☆☆☆
Month

This chart displays the monthly observation probability for Weinkauffia turgidula based on our own records.

More pictures

Weinkauffia turgidula (shell) by Lluís Toll
Weinkauffia turgidula (ventral view) by Lluís Toll
Weinkauffia turgidula 3mm @ Split, Croatia 3m by Jakov Prkic


Bibliography

    Ballesteros M. 2007. Lista actualizada de los opistobranquios (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Opisthobranchia) de las costas catalanas. Spira. 2(3):163–188.
    Ballesteros M, Álvarez C, Mateo B. 1986. Aproximación a la fauna de opistobranquios de la isla de Menorca. Publicaciones del Departamento de Zoología (Barcelona) 12: 93-106.
    Ballesteros M, Madrenas E, Pontes M. 2016. Actualización del catálogo de los moluscos opistobranquios (Gastropoda: Heterobranchia) de las costas catalanas. Spira. 6:1–28.
    Ballesteros M, Madrenas E, Pontes M. 2025. OPK - Opistobranquis. Available from https://opistobranquis.info/.
    Capdevila M, Folch J. 2009. Fauna malacològica del Parc Subaquàtic de Tarragona (el Tarragonès, Catalunya, Espanya). SPIRA Vol. 3 Núms. 1-2 Pàg. 33-51.
    Cervera JL, Calado G, Gavaia C, et al. 2004. An annotated and updated checklist of the opisthobranchs (Mollusca: Gastropoda) from Spain and Portugal (including islands and archipelagos). Boletín Instituto Español de Oceanografía, 20 (1-4): 1-111. L.
    Forbes E. 1844. Report on the Mollusca and Radiata of the Aegean sea, and on their distribution, considered as bearing on geology. Reports of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (1843): 130-193.
    Furfaro G, Vitale F, Licchelli C, et al. 2020. Two Seas for One Great Diversity: Checklist of the Marine Heterobranchia (Mollusca; Gastropoda) from the Salento Peninsula (South-East Italy). Diversity. 12(12):171.
    García-Gómez JC, Cervera JL, García FJ, et al. 1991. Resultados de la campaña internacional de biología marina “Algarve 88”: moluscos opistobranquios. Bollettino Malacologico 27 (5-9): 125-138.
    Giribet G, Peñas A. 1997. Fauna malacológica del litoral del Garraf (NE de la Península Ibérica). Iberus 15 (1): 41-93.
    Long SJ. 2006. Bibliography of Opisthobranchia 1554-2000. Bayside Books & Press, Tustin, CA, U.S.A. 672p.
    Manousis T. 2024. The Marine Mollusca of Cyprus (by September 2024): an updated, systematic catalogue, documented with bibliographic and pictorial references. Xenophora Taxonomy. 45:26–54.
    McDonald G. 2009. Bibliographia Nudibranchia. 2nd Online Edition, Annotated. 1072 pp  Institute of Marine Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz. Available from http://escholarship.org/uc/item/8115h0wz.
    Moreno D, Templado J. 1998. Nuevas aportaciones al conocimiento de los opistobranquios del sureste español. II. Iberus 16 (2): 39-58.
    Moro L, Martín Esquivel JL, Garrido Sanahuja MJ, et al. 2003. Lista de especies marinas de Canarias (algas, hongos, plantas y animales). Consejería de Política Territorial y Medio Ambiente del Gobierno de Canarias. 248 p.
    Nordsieck F. 1972. Die europäischen Meeresschnecken : (Opisthobranchia mit Pyramidellidae, Rissoacea) : vom Eismeer bis Kapverdem, Mittelmeer und Schawarzes Meer. Stuttgart: Gustav Fischer. XIII, 327 p. p.
    Oliver JD, Templado J, Kersting DK. 2012. Gasterópodos marinos de las islas Columbretes (Mediterráneo occidental). Iberus, 30 (2).
    Oskars TR, Too CC, Rees D, et al. 2019. A molecular phylogeny of the gastropod family Haminoeidae sensu lato (Heterobranchia: Cephalaspidea): a generic revision. Invertebrate Systematics 33(2) 426-472. https://doi.org/10.1071/IS18051.
    Ozturk B, Dogan A, Bitlis-Bakir B, et al. 2014. Marine Molluscs of the Turkish Coasts: An Updated Checklist. Tübitak, Turkish Journal of Zoology 38. https://doi.org/10.3906/zoo-1405-78.
    Prkić J, Petani A, Iglić Ð, et al. 2018. Stražnjoškržnjaci Jadranskoga Mora: Slikovni Atlas i Popis Hrvatskih Vrsta / Opisthobranchs of the Adriatic Sea: Photographic Atlas and List of Croatian Species. Bibinje: Ronilaćki Klub Sveti Roko. 464 p. Available from https://opistobranquis.info/en/recursos/llibres-recomanats/opisthobranchs-of-the-adriatic-sea/.
    Tarruella A. 2002. Moluscos marinos de Cap Ras y Llançà (Girona, NE de la península Ibérica). Spira, 1(2): 1-14.
    Templado J, Villanueva R. 2010. Checklist of Phylum Mollusca. pp. 148-198 In Coll, M., et al., 2010. The biodiversity of the Mediterranean Sea: estimates, patterns, and threats. PLoS ONE 5(8):36pp.
    Toll L, Ballesteros M. 2017. “Opistobranquios” (Mollusca: Gastropoda) de la colección malacológica Lluís Dantart. Spira 6 (2017): 171–184.
    WoRMS Editorial Board. 2025. World Register of Marine Species. WoRMS. Available from http://www.marinespecies.org.

    Bibliography based on the works by Steve Long, 2006. Bibliography of Opisthobranchia 1554-2000 and Gary McDonald, 2009. Bibliographia Nudibranchia, with later updates from other resources.

Further reading

Cite this article as:

Toll, Lluís, Manuel Ballesteros, Enric Madrenas, Miquel Pontes (2012-2025) "Weinkauffia turgidula" in OPK-Opistobranquis. Published: 13/08/2014. Accessed: 03/02/2025. Available at (https://opistobranquis.info/en/?p=12186)