Coryphella lineata (Lovén, 1846)

Description

A small flabellinid with a single, nearly continuous white line running along the dorsal midline. The line begins around the most posterior ceras, runs forward between the rhinophores, then forks at the head, with each branch continuing along an oral tentacle to its tip. The rhinophores and oral tentacles also carry the same opaque white longitudinal lines. The rhinophores bear fine longitudinal wrinkles but no lamellate folds.

Distribution

The type locality is the Swedish coast in the north-east Atlantic, based on material originally described by Lovén (1846) as Aeolis lineata. Subsequent records cover the North Atlantic broadly, including Norway and around the British Isles.

Etymology

The specific epithet lineata is Latin for "lined", in reference to the prominent white line on the dorsal midline.

Remarks

Feeds primarily on hydroids.

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References

• Aeolis lineata, Lovén S. (1846). Om nordiska hafs-mollusker. Öfversigt af Kongliga Vetenskaps-Akademiens Förhandlingar, Stockholm. 3: 134-160; 175-199.
• Fjordia lineata (Lovén, 1846), comb. n., Korshunova T., Martynov A., Bakken T., Evertsen J., Fletcher K., Mudianta I.W., Saito H., Lundin K., Schrödl M. & Picton B. (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: 1-139. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.717.21885
• Coryphella lineata (Lovén, 1846), Ekimova I., Valdés Á., Malaquias M. A. E., Rauch C., Chichvarkhin A. & Mikhlina A. (2022). High-level taxonomic splitting in allopatric taxa causes confusion downstream: A revision of the nudibranch family Coryphellidae. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 196(1): 215-249. https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlab105
• Fjordia lineata (Loven, 1846) comb. nov., Korshunova T., Fletcher K. & Martynov A. (2025). The endless forms are the most differentiated—how taxonomic pseudo-optimization masked natural diversity and evolution: the nudibranch case. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 204(4): zlaf057. https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaf057
• Coryphella lineata, Ekimova, I., Carmona, L., Mikhlina, A. L., Grishina, D., Stanovova, M. V., Schepetov, D. M., Hoover, C., de Souza-Canal, J., Kuznetsov, K. O., & Valdés, Á. (2026). Neither "lumpers" nor "splitters": A global revision of Flabellinidae s.l. nudibranchs (Gastropoda: Heterobranchia: Nudibranchia). PLoS One. 21(5): e0347759. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0347759