Shining disco: shedding light into the systematics of the family Discodorididae (Gastropoda: Nudibranchia) Author Fernández-Vilert, Robert Departament de Biologia Evolutiva, Ecologia i Ciències Ambientals, Universitat de Barcelona (UB), Av. Diagonal, 643, 08028 Barcelona, Spain & Institut de Recerca de la Biodiversitat (IRBio), Universitat de Barcelona (UB), Barcelona, Spain Author Arnedo, Miquel A. Departament de Biologia Evolutiva, Ecologia i Ciències Ambientals, Universitat de Barcelona (UB), Av. Diagonal, 643, 08028 Barcelona, Spain & Institut de Recerca de la Biodiversitat (IRBio), Universitat de Barcelona (UB), Barcelona, Spain Author Salvador, Xavi EMBIMOS, Department of Physical andTechnological Oceanography (CSIC), Institute of Marine Sciences (ICM), Pg. Marítim de la Barceloneta, 37, 08003 Barcelona, Spain Author Valdés, Ángel Department of Biological Sciences, California State Polytechnic University, 3801 West Temple Avenue, Pomona, 91768 California, United States Author Schrödl, Michael SNSB-Bavarian State Collection of Zoology, Section Mollusca, Münchhausenstrasse 21, D- 81247 Munich, Germany Author Moles, Juan Departament de Biologia Evolutiva, Ecologia i Ciències Ambientals, Universitat de Barcelona (UB), Av. Diagonal, 643, 08028 Barcelona, Spain & Institut de Recerca de la Biodiversitat (IRBio), Universitat de Barcelona (UB), Barcelona, Spain & SNSB-Bavarian State Collection of Zoology, Section Mollusca, Münchhausenstrasse 21, D- 81247 Munich, Germany text Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 2025 2025-01-11 203 1 1 15 https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlae170 journal article 308011 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlae170 efad4515-b08a-431a-ab79-cd22022c8284 0024-4082 14826152 Systematics of Dorididae Te families Dorididae and Discodorididae sensu Valdés (2002) are paraphyletic because Aphelodoris and Atagema , which were traditionally considered to belong to Dorididae and Discodorididae , respectively, cluster together in a separate clade outside both families. Similar results were found in other molecular analyses highlighting Aphelodoris as a problematic group ( Hallas et al . 2017 ) against morphological odds (Valdés 2002). Another conflicting result with morphological data is the fact that the caryophyllidia-bearing dorids are not monophyletic (Valdés 2002, Fahey and Healy 2003 ), which contradicts the conclusions by Valdés and Gosliner (2001) . Tese results suggest that these complex dermal organs have evolved multiple times independently or have evolved early in Discodorididae (based on the early split of Atagema ) and have been lost multiple times. Te family Dorididae contains a substantial amount of diversity, suggesting that the proposal by Valdés (2002) to synonymize several taxa with the genus Doris was overly simplistic. More work is needed in this group to provide a more up-to-date taxonomy consistent with both molecular and morphological data. Since Doriopsis , Conualevia , and Homoiodoris are accepted genera within Dorididae , the Northern Hemisphere genus Archidoris and the Southern Hemisphere Austrodoris , synonyms of Doris , should be re-erected. Within Dorididae , our results support recent findings by Renau et al. (2024) , except for the inclusion of Rostanga poddubetskaiae . Te morpho-anatomical characters that define the species were recognized as unusual, but molecular data placed the species in the genus Rostanga ( Innabi et al . 2023 ) . Here, we suggest transferring the species to Dorididae under the name ‘ Doris ’ poddubetskaiae comb. nov. pending a thorough taxonomic assessment of Dorididae .