Localities

Fossil localities

The fossil species were generically referred to as Tertiaty butmost of them were from Pliocene and Pleistocene deposits. The oldest species are those from the Upper Miocene formations cropping out at Sortino and Melilli, southeastern Sicily. Short notes on the geological setting and the possible stratigraphic position of species are reported here.

Greco & Lima (1974) and Greco (1986) are additional useful references to the Sicilian localities.

Modern localities

Empty shells were mostly collected from sandy shores ("in littoribus arenosis"), whereas living specimens were manually collected from shallow waters, as described for Elysia timida: "specimina tria in algis cepi et per triduum viva servavi", or obtained from fishermen, such as Aplysia lepus ("Die 12 Octobris Neapoli specimen a piscatoribus accepi..."). In some cases, descriptions were based on material and observations from other naturalists, such as Scacchi and Schultz, as reported under Idalia ramosa ("Cl. Scacchi haec speciem Neapoli detexit et specimen in alcohole servatum, iconem ad vivum factam dono dedit"). Most frequently cited marine localities are Naples, Palermo, Catania and Messina. Many inland localities are also cited for freshwater and terrestrial species.