''Coryphellina marcusorum'', (Spanish common name: ''Eolidáceo de Marcus'') is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

sea slug Sea slug is a common name for some Marine biology, marine invertebrates with varying levels of resemblance to terrestrial Slug, slugs. Most creatures known as sea slugs are gastropods, i.e. they are Sea snail, sea snails (marine gastropod moll ...

, an aeolid

nudibranch Nudibranchs () are a group of soft-bodied marine gastropod molluscs, belonging to the order Nudibranchia, that shed their shells after their larval stage. They are noted for their often extraordinary colours and striking forms, and they have b ...

, a marine

gastropod Gastropods (), commonly known as slugs and snails, belong to a large Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, freshwater, and fro ...

mollusc Mollusca is a phylum of protostome, protostomic invertebrate animals, whose members are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 76,000 extant taxon, extant species of molluscs are recognized, making it the second-largest animal phylum ...

in the family

Flabellinidae Flabellinidae is a taxonomic family of brightly coloured sea slugs, specifically nudibranchs, marine gastropod mollusks. This family has no subfamilies. Genera and species Genera within the family Flabellinidae include:Bouchet, P. (2011)Flabel ...

Distribution

This species was described from Isla San Diego,

Baja California Baja California, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California, is a state in Mexico. It is the northwesternmost of the 32 federal entities of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1952, the area was known as the North Territory of B ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

. ''Coryphellina marcusorum'' is thought to occur in two disjunct populations in the waters of central and south America: one group on the west coast of central America in the eastern Pacific Ocean and as far east as the Galapagos Islands and the other on the east side of the continent in the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere, located south of the Gulf of Mexico and southwest of the Sargasso Sea. It is bounded by the Greater Antilles to the north from Cuba ...

and in the western Atlantic Ocean down to Brazil.

Description

''Coryphellina marcusorum'' has a mainly translucent pink or orange body colour. The elongate rhinophores, foot corners and cerata are tipped with opaque white (or sometimes opaque yellow), with a broad, purple band beneath. The posterior face of the rhinophores may have up to one hundred papillae. The oral tentacles are elongate and thin, and are longer than the rhinophores.Millen S. & Hermosillo A. (2007) The genus ''Flabellina'' Voight, 1834 (Mollusca: Opisthobranchia) from Bahia de Banderas (Pacific coast of Mexico) with ecological observations, the description of a new species, and the redescription of ''Flabellina cynara''. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences ser.4, 58(26): 543-559. page(s): 556 The maximum recorded body length is 25 mmWelch J. J. (2010). "The “Island Rule” and Deep-Sea Gastropods: Re-Examining the Evidence". '' PLoS ONE'' 5(1): e8776. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0008776. or up to 30 mm. This species is very similar in colouration to the recently described African species '' Coryphellina arveloi''. A comparison with other Flabellinidae species from Mexico is given in the description of '' Orienthella fogata''.

Distribution

Description

Habitat

References

External links