Cephalaspidea
Order of gastropods / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the gastropod taxon. For the prehistoric fish taxon, see Cephalaspida.
The order Cephalaspidea, also known as the headshield slugs and bubble snails, is a major taxon of sea slugs and bubble snails, marine gastropod mollusks within the larger clade Euopisthobranchia.[1] Bubble shells is another common name for these families of marine gastropods, some of which have thin bubble-like shells.[2] This clade contains more than 600 species.[3]
Quick Facts Headshield slugs, Scientific classification ...
Headshield slugs | |
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A live individual of Chelidonura varians in the family Aglajidae, head end towards the lower left | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Mollusca |
Class: | Gastropoda |
Subclass: | Heterobranchia |
Cohort: | Tectipleura |
Order: | Cephalaspidea |
Superfamilies | |
See text |
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Members of this worldwide clade used to be considered the most ancestral of the opisthobranchs, but now they are considered as derived and specialized members of the Euthyneura Spengel, 1881.[4]
Headshield slugs are the most morphologically diverse group of all the opisthobranchs.[citation needed]