ABSTRACT
Among the Facelinidae, the genus Cratena comprises nine valid species, four of them presenting a similar colour pattern with white body, reddish diverticula in the cerata and a pair of orange spots laterally on the head. Based on an integrative molecular phylogenetic and morphological approach two new species from western India are described, Cratena poshitraensis sp. nov. and Cratena pawarshindeorum sp. nov. Both species are similar to C. peregrina and C. minor but differ in body length, shape and size of orange spots on the head, C. poshitraensis sp. nov. presenting narrow spots dorsally projected on the base of each oral tentacle while C. pawarshindeorum sp. nov. has large and conspicuous orange spots that embrace dorsally and ventrally the base of the oral tentacles. According to our phylogenetic analysis, Facelina turned out paraphyletic and Cratena polyphyletic with an unclear relationship to Myja and Facelinidae sp.2, and Cratena pilata clustering distant to other Cratena species.
