Felimare is a genus of sea slugs, dorid nudibranchs, shell-less marine gastropod molluscs in the subfamily Miamirinae of the family Chromodorididae.Bouchet, P.; Caballer, M. (2020). Felimare Ev. Marcus & Er. Marcus. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species on 2026-04-22
Taxonomic history Felimare was described by Eveline & Ernst Marcus in 1967 but treated as a synonym of Hypselodoris until 2012 when it was brought back into use for an eastern Pacific, Atlantic and Mediterranean clade revealed by molecular (DNA) techniques.Johnson R.F. & Gosliner T.M. (2012) Traditional taxonomic groupings mask evolutionary history: A molecular phylogeny and new classification of the chromodorid nudibranchs. PLoS ONE 7(4): e33479
Since then it has been somewhat controversial genus, as the 2012 molecular analysis did not take any morphological characteristics into clarification, either external or internal, resulting in little to no diagnostic material to define the genus. In 2025, several of the smaller Felimare species were investigated using both molecular phylogenetic analysis and morphological analysis, and subsequently moved into a new genus, NeptunazureaRibeiro, A.; García-Méndez, K.; Valdés, Á.; Schrödl, M.; Padula, V. (2025). Description of a new genus of Chromodorididae with a taxonomic review of Neptunazurea kempfi (Ev. Marcus, 1971) comb. nov. (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Nudibranchia). Zootaxa. 5716(3): 333-348..
Species
Felimare acriba Ev. Marcus & Er. Marcus, 1967 Felimare agassizii Bergh, 1894 Felimare alaini Ortea, Espinosa & Buske, 2013 Felimare amalguae Gosliner & Bertsch, 1988 Felimare aurantimaculata Ortigosa, Pola & Cervera, 2017Ortigosa D., Pola M., Cervera J. L. (2017). "A new Felimare (Mollusca: Heterobranchia: Nudibranchia) of the Atlantic blue chromodorid chromatic group from Cape Verde". Scientia Marina 81(3): 387-394. . Felimare bayeri Ev. Marcus & Er. Marcus, 1967 Felimare bilineata Pruvot-Fol, 1953 Felimare californiensis Bergh, 1879 Felimare cantabrica Bouchet & Ortea, 1980 Felimare ciminoi Ortea & Valdés, 1996 Felimare espinosai Ortea & Valdés, 1996 Felimare fontandraui Pruvot-Fol, 1951 Felimare fortunensis Ortea, Espinosa & Buske, 2013 Felimare fregona Ortea & Caballer, 2013 Felimare gasconi Ortea, 1996 Felimare gofasi Ortea & Valdés, 1996 Felimare juliae DaCosta, Padula & Schrödl, 2010 Felimare lajensis Troncoso, Garcia & Urgorri, 1998 Felimare lalique Ortea & Caballer, 2013 Felimare lapislazuli Bertsch & Ferreira, 1974 Felimare lilyeveae Alejandrino & Valdés, 2006 Felimare malacitana Luque, 1986 Felimare marci Ev. Marcus, 1971 Felimare muniainae Ortea & Valdés, 1996 Felimare nyalya Ev. Marcus & Er. Marcus, 1967 Felimare olgae Ortea & Bacallado, 2007 Felimare orsinii Vérany, 1846 Felimare picta Schultz in Philippi, 1836 Felimare pinna Ortea, 1988 Felimare ruthae Ev. Marcus & Hughes, 1974 Felimare samueli Caballer & Ortea, 2012 Felimare sechurana Hoover, Padula, Schrödl, Hooker & Valdés, 2017 Felimare sycilla Bergh, 1890 Felimare tema Edmunds, 1981 Felimare tricolor Cantraine, 1835 Felimare villafranca Risso, 1818 Felimare xicoi Ortea & Valdés, 1996 Felimare zebra Heilprin, 1889
Species brought into synonymy Felimare francoisae Bouchet, 1981: synonym of Neptunazurea francoisae Felimare garciagomezi Ortea & Á. Valdés, 1996: synonym of Neptunazurea garciagomezi Felimare ghiselini Bertsch, 1978: synonym of Felimare californiensis Bergh, 1879 Felimare kempfi Ev. Marcus, 1971: synonym of Neptunazurea kempfi Felimare midatlantica Gosliner, 1990: synonym of Felimare tricolor Cantraine, 1835 Felimare molloi Ortea & Á. Valdés, 1996: synonym of Neptunazurea molloi Felimare porterae T. D. A. Cockerell, 1901: synonym of Neptunazurea porterae Felimare sisalensis Ortigosa & Á. Valdés, 2012: synonym of Neptunazurea sisalensis Felimare verdensis Ortea, Valdés & García-Gómez, 1996: synonym of Felimare tema Edmunds, 1981
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References