Cyerce ellingsonorum, Moreno & Rico & Middlebrooks & Medrano & Valdés & Krug, 2024

Moreno, Karina, Rico, Diane M., Middlebrooks, Michael, Medrano, Sabrina, Valdés, Ángel A. & Krug, Patrick J., 2024, A cryptic radiation of Caribbean sea slugs revealed by integrative analysis: Cyerce ‘ antillensis’ (Sacoglossa: Caliphyllidae) is six distinct species, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 200 (4), pp. 940-979 : 967-968

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlad111

publication LSID

lsid:zoobank.org:pub:E8CC81A3-E625-4C48-B783-29AA9BFC83C3C

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11267571

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03C287FB-FFA1-FFC2-FF84-422CFB8D2290

treatment provided by

Plazi

scientific name

Cyerce ellingsonorum
status

sp. nov.

Cyerce ellingsonorum View in CoL sp.nov.

( Figs 1–3 View Figure 1 View Figure 2 View Figure 3 , 5 View Figure 5 , 8C View Figure 8 , 16 View Figure 16 )

ZooBank registration: lsid:zoobank.org:act: 960213E3-2A4A-4173-9413-55EE6D137788

Cyerce antillensis View in CoL — Thompson 1977: 135–137, figs 22g, 30.

Type material

Holotype: Discovery Bay , Jamaica, March 2006, 3 mm preserved length ( LACM 3841 View Materials ; isolate 06Jam09).

Additional material examined Jamaica, March 2006, one specimen preserved, isolate 06Jam05b .

Range

Jamaica (present study).

Description

External morphology: From Thompson (1977): brown in overall colour with scattered red specks. Rhinophores dark brown. Anal papilla prominent. Cerata paddle shaped, pale brown, with darker brown markings and white margins.

Internal morphology: Buccal mass <1 mm; buccal bulb larger than pharyngeal pouch. Radula of holotype specimen 2.4 mm long ( LACM 3841), with six teeth on ascending limb and 10 teeth on descending limb ( Fig. 16A View Figure 16 ). Teeth shallow, bent at an angle of 20°, tapering to pointed tip; 125 µm in length ( Fig. 16A, B View Figure 16 ). Thompson (1977) reported a leading tooth 290 μm long for a 55-mm-long specimen from the type locality. A row of ~10 low, rectangular denticles along each cutting edge; denticles widest where tooth bends (≤ 6 μm wide), narrowing towards tip ( Fig. 16B View Figure 16 ). Ascus with dense mass of ≥ 10 pre-radular teeth ( Fig. 16C View Figure 16 ).

Penis with straight, cylindrical stylet with wide base, 65 µm long; triangular opening at pointed tip ( Fig. 8C View Figure 8 ).

Ecology

Collected from the green alga Pe. dumetosus at the type locality; approximately five specimens per 400 g wet weight of algae were collected on two separate days. No other Cyerce specimens were obtained from collections of Udotea spp. , Halimeda spp. or any other green alga made in Jamaica at the time the specimens of C. ellingsonorum were collected.

Etymology

Named in joint honour of Gary Ellingson and his son, Dr Ryan A. Ellingson, who co-collected the specimens analysed in the present study and helped P.J.K. to establish a molecular systematics research programme.

Remarks

Cyerce ellingsonorum View in CoL was not recognized as a distinct species at the time of collection, and no photographs of live animals were taken, nor were photographs of living Cyerce View in CoL specimens from Jamaica available to us. The best available description of the live animal is likely to be that of Cyerce View in CoL specimens collected at the type locality of C. ellingsonorum View in CoL by Thompson (1977). The specimens described by Thompson (1977) do not match C. antillensis View in CoL well in external morphology, and the size and shape of the radular tooth are very different from C. antillensis View in CoL but compatible with C. ellingsonorum View in CoL . No specimens of C. antillensis View in CoL were obtained from collections of H. opuntia made in Discovery Bay, Jamaica, when the specimens of C. ellingsonorum View in CoL were collected. Based on molecular data, C. ellingsonorum View in CoL was supported as distinct in all species delimitation analyses and might be endemic to Jamaica. In phylogenetic analyses, C. ellingsonorum View in CoL was sister to three other C. antillensis View in CoL complex members in a supported clade of four species. Notably, three of those four species are potential endemic taxa: C. ellingsonorum View in CoL from Jamaica; C. willetteorum View in CoL from Great Stirrup Cay, Bahamas; and C. browneveorum View in CoL from the Florida Keys, USA. Only C. nicholasi View in CoL had a widespread range among members of this clade. At least two of the four species are lecithotrophic ( Table 5 View Table 5 ). If all four species inherited lecithotrophy from a common ancestor, limited dispersal potential might have promoted species formation in this lineage by reducing the scale of gene flow and favouring local adaptation.

The radular teeth of C. ellingsonorum View in CoL were more angled than those of any Caribbean species except C. antillensis View in CoL and bore the widest rectangular denticles of any complex member; the denticles were up to twice as wide on the teeth of C. ellingsonorum View in CoL as on the teeth of C. nicholasi View in CoL , which had the most similar radular morphology. A straight penial stylet bearing a triangular pointed tip differentiated C. ellingsonorum View in CoL from most C. antillensis View in CoL complex members, which had stylets that either curved or had oval openings ( Table 5 View Table 5 ).

LACM

Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Mollusca

Class

Gastropoda

Order

Sacoglossa

Family

Hermaeidae

Genus

Cyerce

Loc

Cyerce ellingsonorum

Moreno, Karina, Rico, Diane M., Middlebrooks, Michael, Medrano, Sabrina, Valdés, Ángel A. & Krug, Patrick J. 2024
2024
Loc

Cyerce antillensis

Thompson TE 1977: 135
1977
GBIF Dataset (for parent article) Darwin Core Archive (for parent article) View in SIBiLS Plain XML RDF