Philine quadripartita is a species of sea slugs or sea snails, marinegastropodmolluscs that has in recent times been referred to as Philine aperta in the North East Atlantic, but several recent studies[1][2][3] studying anatomical traits such as the reproductive anatomy and DNA has shown that P. quadripartita and P. aperta are two distinct species.
P. quadripartita occurs in the NE Atlantic and Mediterranean described from Arendal, Norway, and P. aperta is restricted to the Indian Ocean side of the Cape peninsula of South Africa. The snail has a thin, cone-shaped shell that is typically about 5–7 mm (0.20–0.28 in) in length, with four distinct whorls. Its shell is pale yellow to brown in color, and is covered in small, raised scales. The snail's head and foot are both brown, and it has a small, fleshy mantle that covers the opening of its shell.[4][5]
^Price, R. M., Gosliner, T. M., & Valdés, Á. (2011). Systematics and phylogeny of Philine (Gastropoda: Opisthobranchia), with emphasis on the Philine aperta species complex. Veliger, 51(2), 1.
^Ohnheiser, L. T.; Malaquias, M. (2013). Systematic revision of the gastropod family Philinidae (Mollusca: Cephalaspidea) in the north-east Atlantic Ocean with emphasis on the Scandinavian Peninsula. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 167: 273-326.
^ abMalaquias, M. A. E., Ohnheiser, L. T., Oskars, T. R., & Willassen, E. (2017). Diversity and systematics of philinid snails (Gastropoda: Cephalaspidea) in West Africa with remarks on the biogeography of the region. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 180(1), 1-35.
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