Check List 18(3): 545-551, doi: 10.15560/18.3.545

Aliens in changing seascapes: a newly reported non-native sacoglossan (Mollusca, Heterobranchia) in the western Mediterranean Sea

Egidio Trainito^‡, Mauro Doneddu^§, Giulia Furfaro^|

‡ No affiliation, Olbia-Tempio, Italy§ No affiliation, Tempio Pausania, Italy| University of Salento, Lecce, Italy

Corresponding author: Giulia Furfaro ( giulia.furfaro@unisalento.it )

Academic editor: Leonardo Santos de Souza

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Citation: Trainito E, Doneddu M, Furfaro G (2022) Aliens in changing seascapes: a newly reported non-native sacoglossan (Mollusca, Heterobranchia) in the western Mediterranean Sea. Check List 18(3): 545-551. https://doi.org/10.15560/18.3.545

Abstract

We report the discovery of the Indo-Pacific sacoglossan Elysia nealae Ostergaard, 1955 from northeastern Sardinia (Central Tyrrhenian Sea). This is the first record of this species in the western Mediterranean Sea and only the second for the whole of the Mediterranean Sea following a report from Cape Epanomi, Greece. We discuss the identification of this species as well as the expansion of its geographical range. Data on the ecology and behavior of E. nealae leads us to hypothesize that the increase in the Mediterranean’s water temperature due to climate change has favored this non-native species and contributed to its expanded distribution.

Keywords

Allochthonous species, climate change, Elysia nealae, Sardinia, sea warming, Tyrrhenian Sea