Loimia tuberculata Nogueira, Hutchings, Carrerette, 2015

Figs 1A, C; 2D; 7

Loimia tuberculata Nogueira, Hutchings & Carrerette, 2015: 548–555, Figs 2j–l, 41–44.— Hutchings, Daffe, Flaxman, Rouse & Lavesque, 2024: 3, 7, Fig. 4.

Material examined. Australia: AM W.52885, Queensland, Lizard Island, North Point, 14.64 °S, 145.45 °E, collected, P.A. Hutchings, 27 Sep 2016; AM W.54517, W.54516, Heron Island, Wistari reef, 23.39055°S, 151.90 °E, collected P.A Hutchings & M. Capa, 23 Nov 2009; Western Australia, Exmouth, WAM V12218, 21.826230° S, 114.183081° E, collected Glen Whisson, October 2024 . Papua New Guinea: AM W.54020, AM W.54021, Baudisson Bay, 2.74 °S, 150.66 °E, collected 13 th March 2016, tissue sample taken for DNA studies; MNHN IA-2017-3587 , Papua New Guinea, Madang, 5.15 °S, 145.83 °E, collected, G. Rouse, Dec 2012, tissue sample taken for DNA studies. MNHN _IA_2022_2095, New Caledonia, Noumea lagoon, March 2024, 22.35 °S, 166.31 °E, collected S. Hourdez, tissue sample taken for DNA studies .

Description. Live material pale to reddish anteriorly, with dark stripes at intersegmental grooves and discontinuous bands of dark pigmentation: body greenish after mid body; buccal tentacles pale pink, with pairs of dark pink spots all along their length (Fig. 2D). Rings of white tubercles from segment 5 to posterior end (Figs 1A, C; 2D; 7A–E). Dark pigmentation pattern retained in preserved material (Fig. 7A–E). Large lateral lobes on segments 1 and 3 (Fig. 7A, B). Ventral pads on segments 2–15, last one poorly developed, those of segments 2–4 almost completely fused to form a single crenulated structure, subsequent pads initially rectangular, becoming trapezoidal posteriorly (Fig. 7A).

Remarks. The species was originally described from Lizard Island, Great Barrier Reef, 14°39’25”S, 145°28’22”E, and from the Outer Barrier Yonge Reef, 14°34’ 20” S, 145°36’ 53” E, in 2015, based only on morphology, with photos of live animals showing the characteristic colouration (Fig. 2D) and the white tubercles spread out over anterior to posterior segments, with this dark colour pattern being retained after fixation. Later, additional samples from the type locality, Heron Island (southern Great Barrier Reef), Madang and Baudisson Bay (Papua New Guinea), Exmouth (Western Australia) and New Caledonia were preserved for morphological and DNA analyses, allowing us to extend its distribution range.

A photo of this species from Exmouth (NW Australia) is available at the iNaturalist website (https:// www.inaturalist.org/observations/215910927) and was confirmed examining the specimen (WAM V12218) and sequencing it. Interestingly, this species has not been recorded from the Darwin region, where L. ochracea (Grube, 1877), a species associated with highly turbid coral reefs, is common. This may likely reflect the different habitat preferences of these two species, with L. tuberculata being instead associated with clear-water coral reefs, where it occurs under plates of living Acropora spp. or at the base of coral bommies, with their long-grooved feeding tentacles extending out over the substrate.

Type locality. Australia, Queensland, Great Barrier Reef, Lizard Island, reef on northwest side of North Direction Island .

Distribution. Tropical West Pacific, Northern and Southern GBR, and north western Australia.

Habitat. Associated with coral habitats.