The snail species Ascobulla fragilis is a species of Sacoglossa that inhabits the warmer areas of the Mediterranean Sea. Using a radular tooth, it feeds by breaking through and sucking out the cytoplasmic fluid of algae, primarily of the genus Caulerpa. In 2019, 9 specimens of this species were found and collected for the first time in the northern Adriatic, in the submarine of Funtana. In this paper, I confirmed the morphological identification of A. fragilis species using the DNA barcoding method. Finally, the problem of identification based solely on morphology between the related genera Ascobulla and Cylindrobulla is touched upon. This finding of the species A. fragilis off the coast of Funtana represents the northernmost point of distribution of this species in the Mediterranean |
