Flabellina Gray, 1833 in Griffith & Pidgeon, 1833-1834

Korshunova, Tatiana, Martynov, Alexander, Bakken, Torkild, Evertsen, Jussi, Fletcher, Karin, Mudianta, I Wayan, Saito, Hiroshi, Lundin, Kennet, Michael Schroedl, & Picton, Bernard, 2017, Polyphyly of the traditional family Flabellinidae affects a major group of Nudibranchia: aeolidacean taxonomic reassessment with descriptions of several new families, genera, and species (Mollusca, Gastropoda), ZooKeys 717, pp. 1-139 : 47

Flabellina Gray, 1833 in Griffith & Pidgeon, 1833-1834 Figs 2, 34

Non Flabellina sensu Gosliner and Griffiths (1981) and auctt.

Non Flabellina d'Orbigny, 1839 (junior homonym, Foraminifera, replaced by Neoflabellina Bartenstein, 1948)

Type species.

Doris affinis Gmelin, 1791.

Diagnosis.

Body narrow. Notal ridge completely absent. Cerata on high compound stalks. Rhinophores with ring lamellae, shorter than oral tentacles. Anterior foot corners present. Anus pleuroproctic. Distinct oral glands. Rachidian teeth with narrow compressed cusp and distinct denticles. Lateral teeth denticulated with attenuated process basally. Two closely placed distal seminal receptacles. Long vas deferens without distinct prostate. Penis elongated conical.

Species included.

Flabellina affinis (Gmelin, 1791) (original description in Gmelin 1791; detailed redescription in Schulze and Wägele 1998).

Remarks.

After the restrictions imposed at the family level, the genus Flabellina (to which morphologically and molecularly extremely disparate taxa were formerly assigned) is thus returned to its original definition (Gray 1833 in Griffith and Pidgeon 1833-1834). It is characterised by very ramified tall ceratal stalks and a relatively long vas deferens. In our molecular analysis, the type species of the genus Flabellina affinis was placed basally and separate from the morphologically similar F. funeka and F. ischitana . Further complicating this case is the position of the genus Calmella which may be more closely related to F. funeka and F. ischitana rather than to F. affinis . Thus, to keep the genus Flabellina with the inclusion of F. funeka and F. ishitana is not fully consistent with the molecular data. Therefore, the clade that contains " F. " funeka , " F. " ischitana and " Piseinotecus " gabienerei must be separated in another new genus, Paraflabellina gen. n. (see below).