Tenellia

Genus of gastropods From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tenellia is a genus of sea slugs, aeolid nudibranchs, marine gastropod molluscs in the family Trinchesiidae.[2]

Phylum:Mollusca
Class:Gastropoda
Order:Nudibranchia
Suborder:Aeolidacea
Quick facts Scientific classification, Synonyms ...
Tenellia
A live individual of Tenellia adspersa, head end towards the right
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Order: Nudibranchia
Suborder: Aeolidacea
Family: Trinchesiidae
Genus: Tenellia
Costa, 1866[1]
Synonyms
  • Njurja Er. Marcus & Ev. Marcus, 1960
  • Zelentia (Korshunova, Martynov & Picton, 2017)
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Taxonomic history

This was a small genus until a DNA phylogeny of the former family Tergipedidae resulted in most species of Cuthona being transferred to this genus.[3] Miller (2004) restricted the genus Cuthona (Alder & Hancock, 1855) to the type species, C. nana (Alder & Hancock, 1842), and transferred to the genus Trinchesia the rest of the species previously included in Cuthona. Miller has been followed by some authors, and has not been followed by others - and there is currently much instability on the extension and contents of these two genera. Cella et al., 2016 hypothesised that the genus Tenellia should include many former Cuthona and Trinchesia species, with others being placed in new genera. Since then, there has been much shuffling of species between genera, many species being returned from Trinchesia to Tenellia, and others being placed in several smaller genera, Catriona, Diaphoreolis, Phestilla, and Zelentia.[4]

In the most recent study, Korshunova et al., 2025 re-examined genetic, physical, evolutionary, and environmental characteristics of species within the suborder Aeolidacea, and proposed a massive recategorization of taxons. It was stated that the previous "lumping" of taxa together obscures the diversity and evolutionary origins of species. The extensive study proposed reversing several previous mass species reassignments between genera, reinstating taxa that had fallen to synonymy in previous papers, restricting genera, and suggesting guidelines for how to categorize species that likely belong to yet-undiscovered genera.[5]

While The World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) has cited Korshunova et al., 2025 across other taxonomic adjustments, in regards to Trinchesiidae, who is possibly the most controversed Aeolidean family with papers being published nearly every year from opposing camps, there has yet to be adjustments.[2] As always, Wikipedia defers to the standards set in place by WoRMS, and the lists below will not update unless WoRMS does.

Species

Species within the genus Tenellia include:[2]


Controversed species currently represented by an alternate genus include:

  • Tenellia arnoldi (Mehrotra & Caballer, 2024) represented as Phestilla arnoldi (Mehrotra & Caballer, 2024)
  • Tenellia chaetopterana (Ekimova, Deart & Schepetov, 2017) represented as Phestilla chaetopterana
  • Tenellia fuscostriata (J. T. Hu, Y. J. Zhang, J. Y. Xie & J.-W. Qiu, 2020) represented as Phestilla fuscostriata
  • Tenellia goniophaga (J.-T. Hu, Y.-J. Zhang, S. K. F. Yiu, J. Y. Xie & J.-W. Qui, 2020) represented as Phestilla goniophaga
  • Tenellia lugubris (Bergh, 1870) represented as Phestilla lugubris
  • Tenellia melanobrachia (Bergh, 1874) represented as Phestilla melanobrachia
  • Tenellia minor (Rudman, 1981) represented as Phestilla minor
  • Tenellia panamica (Rudman, 1982) represented as Phestilla panamica
  • Tenellia poritophages (Rudman, 1979) represented as Phestilla poritophages
  • Tenellia sibogae (Bergh, 1905) represented as Phestilla sibogae
  • Tenellia subodiosa (A. Wang, Conti-Jerpe, J. L. Richards & D. M. Baker, 2020) represented as Phestilla subodiosa
  • Tenellia viei (Mehrotra, Caballer & Chavanich, 2020) represented as Phestilla viei


Species now moved to other genera include:

  • Tenellia acinosa (Risbec, 1928): synonym of Trinchesia acinosa - Uncertain taxon
  • Tenellia aurantia (Alder & Hancock, 1842): synonym of Catriona aurantia
  • Tenellia caerulea (Montagu, 1804): synonym of Trinchesia caerulea
  • Tenellia cuanensis (Korshunova, Picton, Furfaro, Mariottini, Pontes, Prkić, Fletcher, Malmberg, Lundin & Martynov, 2019): synonym of Trinchesia cuanensis
  • Tenellia diljuvia (Korshunova, Picton, Furfaro, Mariottini, Pontes, Prkić, Fletcher, Malmberg, Lundin & Martynov, 2019): synonym of Trinchesia dilujuvia
  • Tenellia flavovulta (MacFarland, 1966): synonym of Diaphoreolis flavovulta
  • Tenellia lagunae (O'Donoghue, 1926): synonym of Diaphoreolis lagunae
  • Tenellia mediterranea (A. Costa, 1866) synonym of Tenellia adspersa (von Nordmann, 1845)
  • Tenellia midori (Martynov, Sanamyan & Korshunova, 2015): synonym of Diaphoreolis midori
  • Tenellia morrowae (Korshunova, Picton, Furfaro, Mariottini, Pontes, Prkić, Fletcher, Malmberg, Lundin & Martynov, 2019): synonym of Trinchesia morrowae
  • Tenellia pallida (Alder & Hancock, 1845) synonym of Tenellia adspersa (von Nordmann, 1845)
  • Tenellia punicea (Millen, 1986): synonym of Cuthonella punicea
  • Tenellia stipata (Alder & Hancock, 1843): synonym of Diaphoreolis stipata
  • Tenellia viridis (Forbes, 1840): synonym of Diaphoreolis viridis
  • Tenellia zvezda (Korshunova, Fletcher, Bakken & Martynov, 2023): synonym of Diaphoreolis zvezda

References

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