(Clark, 1827)

Description (shell):
The internal shell measures up to 6 mm in length, strong, translucent white; the aperture is wide and open, approximately as long as the spire. The sculpture characteristically consists of spiral and longitudinal rows of raised dots, in some areas running together to form lines.

Animal:
The body may be up to 17 mm long, white, with an oval shape and rather smaller parapodial lobes than are usual in the genus (P. pruinosa-animal).

Habitat:
It is sublittoral, but nothing is known of its natural habitat, its diet, or its breeding biology.

Distribution:
Distributed from Norway to the Mediterranean Sea, to 400 m in depth (Distr. P. pruinosa).

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Mollusca
Class Gastropoda
Subclass Opisthobranchia
Order Cephalaspidea
Family Philinidae
Genus Philine
Species Philine pruinosa

Status in World Register of Marine Species

Synonym of Laona pruinosa (Clark W., 1827)

Scientific synonyms and common names

Bullaea pruinosa Clark, 1827
Laona pruinosa; Winckworth, 1932

Sars, G.O., 1878. Bidrag til Kundskaben om Norges Arktiske Fauna. I. Mollusca Regionis Arcticae Norvegiae. Oversigt over de i Norges Arktiske Region forekommende Bløddyr. Christiania Universitets program. 466 pp.

Seaward, D.R., 1990. Distribution of the marine molluscs of north west Europe. Nature Conservancy Council.

Thompson, T.E., 1988. Molluscs: Benthic Opisthobranchs (Mollusca: Gastropoda). Synopses of the British fauna (NS), 8: 1-356.

You can continue searching for Philine pruinosa on one of these Web sites:

Fauna Europaea (animals) | IOPI (plants) | NCBI (genetic)

Google | Yahoo | MSN | Wikipedia