Paraganitus ellynnae

Paraganitus ellynnae is a species of sea slug, an acochlidian, a shell-less marine gastropod mollusc in the family Parhedylidae.

Paraganitus ellynnae is the only species in the genus Paraganitus.^[1]

Paraganitus ellynnae is smaller than 5 mm and is externally symmetric.^[1] It has no shell in adults, and no operculum in adults.^[1] It has also no head shield and no posterior shield.^[1] It is able to partially retract parts of its anterior body into a temporal visceral cavity.^[1] The visceral sac is largely separated from the rest of the body.^[1] The mantle is robust.^[1] The visceral hump is conical.^[1] The tail is short and pointed.^[1] The foot is narrow, the anterior foot edge is rounded and it can crawl on the whole foot.^[1] It has no mantle cavity.^[1] It has elongated/pointed rhinophores.^[1] Like all acochlidians, it has oral (= labial) tentacles.^[1] Paraganitus ellynnae has long and slightly recurved oral tentacles.^[1] Oral tentacle nerves have been present in all examined acochlidians to date, but those nerves were not examined in this species.^[1]

Like all acochlidians, it lacks plicate gills.^[1] The position of the anus is unknown.^[1] It has no calcareous spicules, but it has integumental concrements.^[1] It has no keel on the visceral hump.^[1]

It has aggregations of precerebral ‘accessory ganglia’.^[1] It has no eyes.^[1] The presence or absence of Hancock's organ is unknown.^[1] It has prepharyngeal CNS as is the case in all other acochlidians.^[1]

Paraganitus ellynnae is marine and is a mesopsammic species, in other words, these very small slugs live in the interstitial spaces of marine sands.^[1]