Eubranchus tricolor Forbes, 1838
WoRMS Taxonomic Information
Current classification
| Superdomain | Biota |
|---|---|
| Kingdom | Animalia |
| Phylum | Mollusca |
| Class | Gastropoda |
| Subclass | Heterobranchia |
| Infraclass | Euthyneura |
| Subterclass | Ringipleura |
| Superorder | Nudipleura |
| Order | Nudibranchia |
| Suborder | Cladobranchia |
| Superfamily | Fionoidea |
| Family | Eubranchidae |
| Genus | Eubranchus |
| Species | Eubranchus tricolor Forbes, 1838 |
Taxonomic note: The phylogenetic analyses performed by Cella et al. (2016) revealed that the traditional Tergipedidae family is polyphyletic and belongs to a larger monophyletic clade including members of the traditional families Eubranchidae, Fionidae and Calmidae; this was an unexpected result, since the validity of these taxa and their distinctness from the Tergipedidae was never questioned before. They proposed to join the families Tergipedidae, Eubranchidae, Calmidae and Fionidae under the name of Fionidae. This decision has been reinterpreted and completed in the paper by Korshunova et al. (2017) because it obviated evident morphological and molecular aspects.
The Mediterranean specimens identified as Eubranchus tricolor are clearly not conspecific to the Atlantic specimens, but they are quite similar to Eubranchus farrani form “D”, although they could be a new unidentified species (see pictures below).Synonyms
- Egalvina viridula (Bergh, 1873)
- Eolis amethystina Alder & Hancock, 1845
- Eolis tricolor (Forbes, 1838)
- Eolis violacea Alder & Hancock, 1844
- Galvina tricolor (Forbes, 1838)
- Galvina viridula Bergh, 1873
Description
Biology
Etymology
- Eubranchus. From Greek “eu”, good, well + “bragchia”, gill.
- Tricolor. From Latin “tres”, three + “color”, colour.
Distribution
Basically an Atlantic species. Mediterranean specimens, despite the high similarity, are probably a different species, hence we label them as Eubranchus cf. tricolor.
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Abundance
| Western Mediterranean: | ☆☆☆☆☆ |
| Eastern Mediterranean: | ☆☆☆☆☆ |
| Atlantic Ocean: | ☆☆☆☆☆ |
This chart displays the monthly observation probability for Eubranchus tricolor based on our own records.
More pictures
Bibliography
Further reading
Cite this article as:
Ballesteros, M., Madrenas, E. & Pontes, M. (2025) "Eubranchus tricolor" in OPK-Opistobranquis. Published: 14/09/2014. Accessed: 03/09/2026. Available at (https://opistobranquis.info/en/?p=14405)
