THE DISTRIBUTION OF SOME ENDEMIC ANTARCTIC NUDIBRANCHIA

• Published in: Journal of Molluscan Studies
• Main Author: WÄGELE, HEIKE
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford University Press 1991
• Subjects: Articles; Antarctic; The Antarctic; Antarctic Peninsula; Weddell Sea; Weddell; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://mollus.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/57/3/337; https://doi.org/10.1093/mollus/57.3.337

The distribution of six endemic Antarctic nudibranch species is described, using both published data and new results from recent expeditions to the Atlantic sector of the South Polar Sea. Notaeolidia schmekelae Wägele, 1990 is restricted to the Weddell Sea, and N. gigas Eliot, 1905 to the Antarctic Peninsula and the Scotia Arc. N. depressa Eliot, 1905 is the only member of the family Notaeolidiidae Odhner, 1926 with a circumpolar distribution. Localities of Pseudotritonia quadrangularis Thiele, 1912 and Telarma antarctica Odhner, 1934, are known around the Antarctic Continent, whereas Pseudotritonia gracilidens Odhner, 1944 was only collected at the Antarctic Peninsula. The biogeographical divisions, discussed by several authors, do not coincide in all aspects with the distribution patterns of the Nudibranchia. According to my results, the Antarctic Peninsula forms a separate faunal zone, with transitional elements of the High Antarctic and Subantarctic zone. South Georgia has no endemic nudibranchs.