Coryphellina iurmanovi Korshunova, Fletcher & Martynov, 2025

Coryphellina iurmanovi

No field photograph submitted for this species yet

Description

Body relatively narrow, up to 9-15 mm in length. Background body colour opaque whitish-greyish to yellowish, with orange pigmental patches between cerata groups. A thin lilac (lavender) line runs nearly continuously along the dorsal midline, with similar lines along the notal edges, all three merging near the tail. This coloration pattern is the primary diagnostic feature of this species. Cerata finger-shaped to fusiform, arranged in slightly raised clusters along the dorsal edges; digestive gland branches pale reddish-orange. Indistinct reddish-orange subapical rings present near cerata tips. Rhinophores approximately 1.5 times shorter than oral tentacles, strongly papillate. Lilac pigment also present on anterior foot corners.

Distribution

Type locality: Nha Trang Bay, Vietnam (10-15 m depth). Possibly more widely distributed in parts of the Indo-West Pacific.

Etymology

Verbatim from the 2025 revision:

In honour of Anton Iurmanov (Moscow, Institute of Plant Physiology RAS) who greatly helped with the organization of Kurile expeditions.

Remarks

A member of the family Coryphellidae, genus Coryphellina. This species belongs to the Coryphellina rubrolineata species complex (a pseudocryptic species complex) and inhabits shallow rocky reef environments. Verbatim from the original Remarks:

Two Coryphellina iurmanovi sp. nov. formed a distinct, separate highly supported clade (PP = 1, BS = 100), and had the closest position to the clades C. lotos and C. pseudolotos with high support.

It is distantly related to the type species C. rubrolineata. The paper further notes: "The described herein species was identified as Coryphellina 'rubrolineata' in Korshunova et al. 2017a." That is, specimens previously identified as Coryphellina "rubrolineata" have now been confirmed as a distinct species based on both morphological and molecular evidence. Uncorrected COI p-distances: 13.0% from C. rubrolineata, 14.5% from C. arveloi, 12.0% from C. aurora, 8.6% from C. lotos (closest), 14.5% from C. exoptata, 9.9% from C. pseudolotos, 12.6% from C. pannae, and 12.4% from C. flamma. As with other members of the rubrolineata complex, external identification is extremely difficult due to the pseudocryptic nature of the group; reliable identification requires DNA barcoding. No Japanese common name assigned.