{"id":641,"date":"2012-05-17T11:51:17","date_gmt":"2012-05-17T09:51:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/opistobranquis.info\/piseinotecus-gaditanuspiseinotecus-gaditanuspiseinotecus-gaditanus"},"modified":"2025-06-12T09:22:13","modified_gmt":"2025-06-12T07:22:13","slug":"calmella-gaditana","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/opistobranquis.info\/en\/guia\/nudibranchia\/aeolidioidea\/flabellinidae\/calmella-gaditana\/","title":{"rendered":"Calmella gaditana"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Calmella gaditana<\/em> (Cervera, Garc\u00eda-G\u00f3mez, & Garc\u00eda, 1987)<\/h3>\n

\"Calmella<\/div>
Calmella gaditana<\/em> by Jos\u00e9 Carlos Garc\u00eda G\u00f3mez<\/center><\/span>

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WoRMS Taxonomic Information<\/h3>
The requested name Calmella gaditana is not currently accepted (superseded combination).
Current accepted name: Flabellina gaditana<\/em> (Cervera, Garc\u00eda-G\u00f3mez & F. J. Garc\u00eda, 1987)<\/strong><\/div>

Current classification<\/h4>
Superdomain<\/th>Biota<\/a><\/td><\/tr>
Kingdom<\/th>Animalia<\/a><\/td><\/tr>
Phylum<\/th>Mollusca<\/a><\/td><\/tr>
Class<\/th>Gastropoda<\/a><\/td><\/tr>
Subclass<\/th>Heterobranchia<\/a><\/td><\/tr>
Infraclass<\/th>Euthyneura<\/a><\/td><\/tr>
Subterclass<\/th>Ringipleura<\/a><\/td><\/tr>
Superorder<\/th>Nudipleura<\/a><\/td><\/tr>
Order<\/th>Nudibranchia<\/a><\/td><\/tr>
Suborder<\/th>Aeolidina<\/a><\/td><\/tr>
Superfamily<\/th>Fionoidea<\/a><\/td><\/tr>
Family<\/th>Flabellinidae<\/a><\/td><\/tr>
Genus<\/th>Flabellina<\/em><\/a><\/td><\/tr>
Species<\/th>Flabellina gaditana<\/em> (Cervera, Garc\u00eda-G\u00f3mez & F. J. Garc\u00eda, 1987)<\/a><\/td><\/tr><\/table>

Classification provided by the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS). [1044181<\/a>]<\/p><\/div>

Taxonomic note<\/strong>: The classification of the Flabellinidae had remained fairly stable until in 2017 a series of works appeared (Furfaro et al., 2017; Korshunova et al., 2017) that intended to clarify the status of the Flabellinidae family. The main objective of the paper by Furfaro et al. was to molecularly characterize the Mediterranean species while the paper by Korshunova et al. wanted to delve into the phylogenetic relationships between various members of the Flabellinidae family and the other families of aeolidaceans.
Both works were based on the combination of molecular and morphological techniques and, in fact, do not offer very different results, but differ on the size and origin of the studied samples and, mainly, on the interpretation of the results. After the appearance of the paper by Furfaro et al., many Mediterranean species of the genera Calmella<\/i>, Flabellina<\/i> and Piseinotecus<\/i> were grouped under the common genusFlabellina<\/i>, but had certain problems with some species that did not fit well with the proposed classification (e.g,Flabellina babai<\/i>) , discovered that the Mediterranean and Atlantic populations ofFlabellina ischitana<\/i> correspond to two different cryptic species, and noted the problems of the cryptic group formed by Calmella cavolini<\/i> \/ Flabellina confusa<\/i> \/ Piseinotecus gaditanus<\/i>, indicating the need for further studies to clarify their status.
Curiously, these studies were being carried out practically in parallel by the group of Korshunova et al. but on a much wider sample of species that included specimens from the Arctic, North Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. This second paper confirms the polyphily of the family Flabellinidae, but the interpretation of these results becomes a real revolution for the taxonomy of the aeolidaceans, especially for the family Flabellinidae.
Both papers show that there are two well differentiated clades (groups) in the Flabellinidae: species like Coryphella pedata <\/i>and similars, with cerata that come directly from the back, and species like Flabellina affinis <\/i>and similars, with cerata of each group coming from a stalk or pod. Although Furfaro et al. consider the species of both clades belonging to the genusFlabellina <\/i>within the family Flabellinidae, Korshunova et al. distinguishes two families: Coryphellidae and Flabellinidae sensu stricto, also creating many different genera in these families to include the species they study. Its taxonomic proposal, curiously, solves the problems found by Furfaro et al.
In a way, both papers complement to each other, although in the paper by Korshunova et al. it is evident the lack of studies on tropical flabellinid species and those from southern America and Africa, so the subject has not been settled. The proposal to create new genera to collect small groups of species, instead of multispecific genera, seems to be the trend in some of the phylogenetic works of recent years. A detailed discussion of this exciting controversy can be found at (https:\/\/opistobranquis.info\/en\/flabellinidae\/<\/a>).<\/p>Calmella gaditana<\/em> was originally described in the Cadiz coast (SW Spain) as Piseinotecus gaditanus<\/em> (Cervera et al., 1987) mainly because its uniseriate radula, although the authors of the description already remarked its great morphological similarity with Calmella cavolini<\/em>, of triseriate radula. Subsequently, a new species was described, Flabellina confusa<\/em> Gonz\u00e1lez-Duarte, Cervera & Poddubetskaia, 2008 thanks to specimens collected in the Bay of Arcachon, on the French Atlantic coast. Morphologically\u00a0F. confusa<\/em> was almost identical to P. gaditanus<\/em> but had a triseriate radula, so the authors considered it a cryptic species with P. gaditanus<\/em>. Furfaro et al (2018, online September 2017), while studying the species of the Flabellinidae family of the Mediterranean and nearby areas, by using optical and electronic microscopy, verified that Piseinotecus gaditanus<\/em> actually had a triseriate radula, with minute lateral teeth that the authors who originally described the species were not able to observe; In addition, they also verified by molecular analysis that P. gaditanus<\/em> and F. confusa<\/em> have a genetic distance of only 0.82%, which falls within what is considered intraspecific variability and therefore synonymize confusa<\/em> with gaditanus<\/em> and placed the latter species within of the genus Flabellina<\/em> as F. gaditana<\/em> (Cervera, Garc\u00eda-G\u00f3mez & Garc\u00eda, 1987). The taxonomic history of this species takes a new twist with the paper by Korshunova et al. (2017) who, by analyzing morphologically and molecularly numerous species attributed to the Flabellinidae family, move gaditana<\/em> species to the Calmella<\/em> genus as C. gaditana<\/em> (Cervera, Garc\u00eda-G\u00f3mez & Garc\u00eda, 1987). Furfaro et al. (2021) review once again the ascription of the species belonging to the genus Calmella<\/em> and conclude that they belong to the genus Flabellina<\/em>, showing that the chromatic pattern between Flabellina cavolini<\/em> and Flabellina gaditana<\/em> is not a valid diagnostic character and that they can only be distinguished molecularly. Karmeinski et al (2021) return this species to the genus Calmella<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Synonyms<\/strong><\/p>\n