Phyllidiopsis, Bergh, 1876

Papu, Adelfia, Bogdanov, AleXander, Bara, Robert, Kehraus, Stefan, König, Gabriele M., YonoW, Nathalie & Wägele, Heike, 2022, Phyllidiidae (Nudibranchia, Heterobranchia, Gastropoda): an integrative taxonomic approach including chemical analyses, Organisms Diversity & Evolution (New York, N. Y.) 22 (3), pp. 585-629 : 604

Phyllidiopsis clade xishaensis / annae / sphingis / shireenae

One monophyletic clade (bootstrap support value 100) of Phyllidiopsis consists of four species characterised by white colouration and longitudinal black lines. This clade comprises P. xishaensis ( Lin, 1983) ( Fig. 8.1a–d ), P. annae Brunckhorst, 1993 ( Fig. 8.2a–c ), P. sphingis Brunckhorst, 1993 ( Fig. 8.3a ), and P. shireenae Brunckhorst, 1990a ( Fig. 8.4a–c ), and all species are supported by bootstrap values of 100. Whereas P. shireenae can reach a large size (more than 100 mm), the other three species are usually small, less than 30 mm ( Gosliner et al., 2018). Besides the species-specific black pattern and ridge(s) on the dorsum, our seven specimens of P. xishaensis and one specimen of P. sphingis are characterised by white to yellow rhinophores. Phyllidiopsis shireenae has entirely pink rhinophores, and P. annae has black rhinophores which are pink at the base. Phyllidiopsis annae and P. sphingis can be distinguished by their blue mantle colouration, while P. xishaensis and P. shireenae have pale white mantle colouration. Valdés (2003) assigned one of his specimens (AF430368) from New Caledonia to P. sphingis , but in our study, it is grouped together with one P. annae sequence published by Hallas et al. (2017: MF958283) as well as with our seven P. annae specimens; the misidentification is understandable as they have similar dorsal patterns. Intraspecific variability of all four species is low, with a maximum of 1.89% in P. annae (Table S5). However, the number of included specimens was also low with a maximum of 11 specimens of P. xishaensis (intraspecific variability 1.52%).

Only one species of this Phyllidiopsis clade was investigated chemically. The crude extracts of two P. shireenae specimens contained sesquiterpenes typical for Phyllidiidae and did not provide any species-specific chemical cues.

Figures

Fig.8 Phyllidiopsis species and specimens with identifiers. Scale bars: 1–3 1 mm; 4 10 mm. 1a–d Phyllidiopsis xishaensis: a Phst16Bu1; b Phst16Bu2; c Phsxi18Ba1; d Phsxi18Bu1. 2a–c Phyllidiopsis annae: