Pterogasteron marginatus (Pease, 1871) Elysia marginata is a marine gastropod in the family Plakobranchidae.

[1] These chloroplasts are stored in Elysia marginata's highly branched digestive gland that is lined by cells that maintain the ingested chloroplasts over its entire body.

[6] Unlike other sea slugs, which can only shed minor body parts, Elysia marginata and Elysia atroviridis can autotomize their heads completely from the rest of their body.

Due to the slow nature of body separation, it is suggested that body shedding is a controlled mechanism to eliminate parasites, as the time-consuming nature of this behavior is not an efficient way to avoid predators and imitated predators in studies did not induce autotomy.

[1] However, like other sacoglossans, E. marginata can survive solely by photosynthesis from kleptoplasty after separation from their digestive system.