Melanochlamys

Melanochlamys is a genus of headshield slugs in the family Aglajidae. Despite the appearance of its species, this genus must not be confused with nudibranchs.

This genus was first described by Cheeseman in 1881 but later malacologists considered it a junior synonym of Aglaja Renier, 1807, until the genus was reinstated by Rudman in 1972

It differs from the other genera in Aglajidae by its external cylindrical body form with small parapodia, the shape of its small, curved and strongly calcified shell, its  alimentary canal with a rigid, non-eversible buccal bulb, and the reproductive system with a short duct to the exogenous ( = originating from the outside) sperm sac and a characteristic penis.

Species
According to the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS), this genus contains the following accepted names:
 * Melanochlamys algirae (Adams A. in Sowerby G.B. II, 1850)
 * Melanochlamys aquilina S.-Q. Zhang, M.-J. Liao, Y.-G. Wang, M. Kong & B. Li, 2020
 * Melanochlamys barryi Gosliner, 1990
 * Melanochlamys chabanae Breslau, Valdés & Chichvarkhin, 2016
 * Melanochlamys cylindrica Cheeseman, 1881
 * Melanochlamys diomedea (Bergh, 1893)
 * Melanochlamys ezoensis (Baba, 1957)
 * Melanochlamys fukudai Cooke, Hanson, Hirano, Ornelas-Gatdula, Gosliner, Chernyshev & Valdés, 2014
 * Melanochlamys handrecki Burn, 2010
 * Melanochlamys kohi Cooke, Hanson, Hirano, Ornelas-Gatdula, Gosliner, Chernyshev & Valdés, 2014
 * Melanochlamys lorrainae (Rudman, 1968)
 * Melanochlamys maderensis (Watson, 1897)
 * Melanochlamys miqueli (Pelorce, Horst & Hoarau, 2013)
 * Melanochlamys papillata Gosliner, 1990
 * Melanochlamys queritor (Burn, 1957)
 * Melanochlamys wildpretii Ortea, Bacallado & Moro, 2003


 * Species brought into synonymy :
 * Melanochlamys depicta (Renier, 1807) : synonym of Philinopsis depicta (Renier, 1807)
 * Melanochlamys dubia (O'Donoghue, 1929) : synonym of Philinopsis dubia (O'Donoghue, 1929)
 * Melanochlamys nana (Steinberg & Jones, 1960) : synonym of Melanochlamys diomedea (Bergh, 1894)
 * Melanochlamys seurati (Vayssière, 1926) : synonym of Melanochlamys algirae (Adams A. in Sowerby G.B. II, 1850)
 * Melanochlamys virgo (Rudman, 1968) : synonym of Philinopsis virgo (Rudman, 1968)