Pontohedyle

Pontohedyle is a genus of sea slugs, acochlidians, shell-less marine gastropod mollusks in the family Parhedylidae. Sea slugs in this genus are highly simplified and uniform.

==Distribution== The genus Pontohedyle shows a circumtropical distribution with a single derived species (Mediterranean/ Black Sea Pontohedyle milaschewitchii) inhabiting temperate waters. In the absence of a fossil record for meiofaunal slugs, the only available estimate for divergence times derives from a molecular clock approach, calibrated with shelled heterobranch fossils. Jörger et al. (2010) estimated the origin of the genus Pontohedyle to the late Cretaceous, 84 mya (95% confidence interval ranging from 160 to 60 mya), providing a rough estimation of how much time was available for diversification and circum-global dispersal of Pontohedyle slugs.