Cyerce willetteorum, 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 : 968-970

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.11267573

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03C287FB-FFA6-FFC0-FF8A-4636FED92235

treatment provided by

Plazi

scientific name

Cyerce willetteorum
status

sp. nov.

Cyerce willetteorum View in CoL sp.nov.

( Figs 1–3 View Figure 1 View Figure 2 View Figure 3 , 5 View Figure 5 , 8F View Figure 8 , 17 View Figure 17 )

ZooBank registration: lsid:zoobank. org:act: B2309FF2-4BF7-4317-BE5F-5398AB298F30

Type material

Holotype: Stirrup Cay , Bahamas, July 2001, 2 mm preserved length ( LACM 3844 View Materials ; isolate 07Stir01).

Range

Great Stirrup Cay, Bahamas (present study).

Description

External morphology: No photograph was taken of the live specimen, hence no description of external morphology is possible at this time.

Internal morphology: Radula of holotype (LACM 3844, isolate 07Stir01) with six teeth on ascending limb and seven teeth on descending limb ( Fig. 17A View Figure 17 ). Teeth shallow, bent at an angle of 18°, tapering to pointed tip; 97 µm in length ( Fig. 17B View Figure 17 ). Row of nine denticles along each cutting edge, irregular in shape and width; narrow at base, widening to a curved edge, ≤ 2.5 μm wide. Denticles narrower, more rectangular near tip ( Fig. 17B View Figure 17 ). Partial ascus with four pre-radular teeth ( Fig. 17C View Figure 17 ).

Penis with curved, wide stylet, narrowing gradually from embedded base, 120 µm long; oval opening at wide tip ( Fig. 8F View Figure 8 ).

Ecology

Collected from Pe. capitatus .

Etymology

Named in joint honour of Dr Demian Willette, who contributed specimens to this work and helped P.J.K. to initiate studies of sacoglossan biodiversity, and his brother Darian Willette, a devoted naturalist lost at too young an age.

Remarks

Only a single exemplar of C. willetteorum was sampled over the 15-year duration of this study of Western Atlantic sacoglossans. However, the lone specimen was supported as a distinct species by all methods of molecular species delimitation. Although the external morphology could not be described at this time, the penial stylet was distinct from the other complex members, less curved and shorter than C. nicholasi but more curved and longer than any other newly described species. The radular denticles were also distinctive, with an irregular shape and curved edge not observed in any other species. Given the genetic support for the holotype as a separate species and the distinctive characteristics of the internal anatomy, we elected to name the species to clarify the diversity of the Caribbean Cyerce spp. and to facilitate future studies of the biology of this rare taxon.

This was the only species collected from Pe. capitatus , although C. cf. cristallina associates transiently with Pe. capitatus at night (M. Charteris, unpublished data). Algal congeners Pe. dumetosus and Pe. lamourouxii were used as hosts by four other complex members and have thicker filaments than Pe. capitatus on the ‘shaving brush’ portion of the algal thallus. However, extensive collections of Pe. capitatus made elsewhere in the Caribbean did not yield specimens of Cyerce , leaving it unclear whether Pe. capitatus is a preferred host of C. willetteorum or was merely the more locally abundant Penicillus sp. at the type locality. Further study is needed to understand the basis of host specificity within the C. antillensis complex.

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Mollusca

Class

Gastropoda

Order

Sacoglossa

Family

Hermaeidae

Genus

Cyerce

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