Carminodoris, BERGH, 1889

Valdés, Ángel, 2002, A phylogenetic analysis and systematic revision of the cryptobranch dorids (Mollusca, Nudibranchia, Anthobranchia), Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 136 (4), pp. 535-636 : 615

GENUS CARMINODORIS BERGH, 1889

Carminodoris Bergh, 1889: 818 . Type species: Carminodoris mauritiana Bergh, 1889 , by monotypy

Remarks

Bergh (1889) introduced the genus Carminodoris , based on Carminodoris mauritiana Bergh, 1889 . The diagnostic features of this genus are as follows: anterior border of the foot grooved and notched; dorsum covered with small tubercles; presence of jaws; hamate lateral teeth, denticulate outermost lateral teeth; large prostate and penis armed with hooks. All, with the exception of the penial hooks and denticulate outermost teeth, are present in the type species of Discodoris . These differences could be due to specific variation, but further detailed study, including anatomical investigation of Carminodoris mauritiana , is necessary before a definitive synonymization can be made. Meanwhile, Carminodoris is provisionally regarded as uncertain. Several authors ( Thompson, 1975; Gosliner & Behrens, 1998) proposed that it could be a synonym of Hoplodoris ; however, it lacks the latter’s characteristic accessory glands with spines. Most of the Indo-Pacific species assigned to Carminodoris should probably be transferred to Hoplodoris , whereas the Atlantic species Carminodoris boucheti Ortea, 1979 and Carminodoris spinobranchialis Ortea & Martínez, 1992 fit the original description of the genus Carminodoris (see Ortea, 1979 and Ortea & Martínez, 1992).

The identity of the type species of Carminodoris , C. mauritiana , is the main obstacle to determining the phylogenetic relationships of this genus. Since its original description, C. mauritiana has not been collected again.

Eliot (1910) and Edmunds (1971) assigned specimens collected from the Solomon Islands and Tanzania to the species C. mauritana , which they included in the genus Peltodoris . However, the anatomy of their animals, which lack penial hooks and jaws and have simple hamate radular teeth, is very different from the original description of C. mauritana , described as having penial hooks, jaws and denticulate radular teeth. Marshall & Willan (1999) transferred C. mauritiana to the genus Discodoris , while retaining the name Carminodoris as valid for other species; however, they overlooked the fact that C. mauritiana is the type species of Carminodoris . The lack of anatomical description in their paper prevents a precise generic placement for their animals.