• Animal Systematics, Evolution and Diversity
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.130-134
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• 2024

The family Velutinidae is found in various intertidal and subtidal habitats worldwide including Arctic and Antarctic seas. They are characterized by possessing a fragile shell that is partially or entirely covered by the mantle. Eight valid species of the genus Coriocella have been reported mostly in the Indo-West Pacific. Here we report Coriocella jayi Wellens, 1996 from Korean waters for the first time and describe details of their external morphology and radula characteristics using scanning electron microscopy, and provide the mtDNA cox1 sequence as a DNA barcode sequence information. This species is distinguished from other congeneric species by having six cylinder-shaped tubercular lobes of their dorsal part of mantle body and mantle color. Phylogenetic tree using the mtDNA cox1 sequence data shows that two Coriocella species (C. jayi and C. nigra) are grouped as their respective sister among Velutinidae species, and these relationships are strongly supported by 100% bootstrap value. Despite the morphological similarities, further investigation will be needed to confirm whether the African and Korean populations can be justified as the same species with a disconnected distribution range, or represent morphologically similar but two distinct species.