Taxonomic review of the family Discodorididae (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Nudibranchia) from Brazil, with descriptions of two new species
Author
Alvim, Juliana
Author
Pimenta, Alexandre Dias
text
Zootaxa
2013
3745
2
152
198
journal article
10.11646/zootaxa.3745.2.2
c32092a5-be17-4b13-8c8b-a7b1e7b334a8
1175-5326
248699
D87FBB64-5DE2-4D19-9338-6E9BE212FAEF
Discodoris hummelincki
(Ev. Marcus & Er. Marcus, 1963) new combination
(
Figures 1
E; 11–12)
Peltodoris crucis
Bergh, 1880: 41
, plt. A, figs. 1–2 (
in part
).
Peltodoris hummelincki
Ev. Marcus & Er. Marcus, 1963:27, figs. 32–35.
Tayuva ketos gila
Er. Marcus & Ev. Marcus, 1970: 65, figs. 118–120.
Diaulula hummelincki
: Valdés
et al.
(2006: 190)
.
Diaulula phoca auct
. non
(Ev. Marcus & Er. Marcus, 1967a): García
et al
. (2008: 140).
Type
material.
Holotype
ZMA Moll. 3.63.0 20, 0
3 March 1955
, 48.0 mm preserved legth, P.W. Hummelinck leg;
Paratype
: ZMA Moll. 3.63.0 21, 0
3 March 1955
, P.W. Hummelinck leg. [2].
Type
locality.
Santa Martha Bay,
Curaçao
.
Material examined.
Curaçao
: MZSP 76293 [1];
Brazil
: Alagoas state: Recife da Ponta Verde: MNRJ 12939,
25
/ix/1996 [1]; Rio de Janeiro state: Cabo Frio: Canal de Itajurú: MNRJ 13997,
05
/vii/2009, coll. J. Alvim [1]; Praia das Conchas: MNRJ 13187,
28
/x/2007, coll. J. Bahia [1].
Geographical distribution.
Aruba
(Valdés
et al.
, 2006);
Curaçao
: Santa Martha Bay (Ev. Marcus & Er. Marcus, 1963), Piscadera Bay (Ev. Marcus & Er. Marcus, 1963; Er. Marcus & Ev. Marcus, 1970),
Cayman Islands
(Dayrat, 2010), St. Thomas and
Virgin Islands
(Bergh, 1880);
Brazil
: Alagoas state; Rio de Janeiro state: Cabo Frio (present study); São Paulo state: Ilhabela (García
et al
., 2008).
Description. External morphology
(
Figures 1
E; 11E): body oval, slightly depressed, up to 32.0 mm long alive, with 1.5 to 2.0 times greater length than width. Mantle covered by conical tubercles irregularly disposed, with different sizes throughout mantle (48 µm to 200 µm in diameter); tubercles lower in mantle edge and in center of mantle than those in sides of mantle. Some tubercles in center of mantle and on rhinophoral and branchial sheaths are white and bigger than other tubercles. Rhinophoral sheaths more prominent than branchial sheath, both covered by tubercles of same size as those of mantle edge. Rhinophores long, with cylindrical apex, 17 to 18 diagonal perfoliations. Gill with six retractile, tripinnate branchial leaves, positioned symmetrically about longitudinal axis of body; anal cone high, located between two most posterior branchial leaves. Foot narrower than mantle; anterior foot border notched on upper “lip”. Oral tentacles conical and small. Living specimens presents body predominantly whitish, with numerous brown spots/blotches of various sizes, usually circular, more concentrated in center of mantle; these blotches can be very concentrated, transforming dominant color of body to brownish, with white part restricted to mantle margin; two lateral rows with five darker brown circulars blotches of each side, from rhinophores to gill; rhinophores with basal portion of same color of rest of body; perfoliations brownish-yellow with numerous white spots on perfoliations; cylindrical apex white; branchial leaves of same color of rhinophores, with numerous tiny brown spots; ventrally, cream to white; brown blotches smaller and more concentrated in foot than in ventral part of mantle.
FIGURE 11
.
Discodoris hummelincki
, SEM photographs; A, detail of the elements of the labial cuticle; B, innermost lateral tooth; C, midlateral teeth, triangular enlargement at the base indicated by white arrow; D, marginal teeth; E, detail of the tubercles; F, penis. A–B; D–E (MNRJ 13997); C, F (MNRJ 12939).
FIGURE 12
.
Discodoris hummelincki
, reproductive system (MNRJ 13997); A, general view of reproductive system; B, detail near of the gonopore; C, penis. Abbreviations: am, ampulla; bc, bursa copulatrix; dd, deferent duct; f, female glands; go, gonopore; mw, muscular wall; ov, oviduct; p, penis; pr, prostate; s, seminal receptacle; va, vagina.
Labial cuticle and radula
(
Figures 11
A–D): Yellow lateral plates with numerous elongated elements; approximately rectangular, long and filiform on outer margin and, low and short on inner margin. Radula formulae
21 x
24.0.
24 in
preserved specimen measuring 19.0 mm in length; lateral plates smooth and hook-shaped, approximately in a right angle, larger and more developed in center of rows, which have a triangular protuberance at base of tooth; marginal teeth thinner with soft curves.
Reproductive system
(
Figures 11
F–12): hermaphrodite duct connecting to long and slightly convoluted ampulla. Postampullary gonoduct short, connecting to oviduct and prostate. Prostate granular, divided into two parts, approximately of same size, less dense part proximal, denser distal part. Distal portion of vas deferent short and enlarged, opening in common atrium with vagina. Penis cylindrical near deferent duct and tapered at distal part. Muscular wall on base of genital atrium, very thick near opening of vas deferens and vagina. Vagina elongated, narrow and opening into rounded bursa copulatrix, partially covered by prostate. Bursa serially arranged, vaginal duct folding once and connecting to stalked seminal receptacle; uterine duct short. Bursa and receptacle of similar size.
Remarks.
Bergh (1880) distinguished the genus
Peltodoris
from
Discodoris
on the basis of the former’s lack of jaws and harder body consistency. Based on a recent phylogenetic analysis, Valdés (2002) indicated that
Discodoris
and
Peltodoris
belong in two different clades.
Discodoris hummelincki
was originally described in the genus
Peltodoris
(Ev. Marcus and Er. Marcus, 1963) due to the lack of labial armature in the two specimens that were dissected. However, Dayrat (2010) re-examined the
holotype
of
Discodoris hummelincki
and found the labial armature to be composed of different elements, therefore suggesting that perhaps Ev. Marcus and Er. Marcus (1963) simply missed the jaws, or that their dissected specimens did not have jaws. The presence of elements in the labial armature places this species in the genus
Discodoris
. Furthermore, Dayrat (2010), after analyzing the
types
of
Discodoris hummelincki
and
Tayuva ketos gila
Ev. Marcus and Er. Marcus, 1967a (also from the Caribbean Sea), established their synonymy. Dayrat (2010) examined
Peltodoris crucis
Bergh, 1880
and realized that one of its
paratypes
actually belongs to
D. hummelincki
.
However, Dayrat (2010) transferred this species to
Tayuva
Ev. Marcus & Er. Marcus (1967a), a genus previously considered junior synonym of
Discodoris
by Valdés (2002). Ev. Marcus and Er. Marcus (1967a) described the genus
Tayuva
as possessing many features in common with the genus
Discodoris
but distinguished by a large vestibule (atrium) stiffened by spicules and lodging the penial papilla and the vaginal aperture. This genital opening structure was considered ‘aberrant’ by Marcus and Marcus (1967a) and they could not find another genus that could ‘receive’ the species. Dayrat (2010) recognized the supposed ‘aberration’, that is actually a muscle wall at the distal part of the reproductive system, as a synapomorphy of
Tayuva
.
On the other hand, Dayrat (2010) did not recognize morphological differences to separate the various species in this genus. Instead, he treated all of them as a single species in the so-called "complex
Tayuva lilacina
Gould, 1852
", which was divided into four geographic regions: Mediterranean and the eastern European Atlantic, Panamic eastern Pacific, tropical Indo-western Pacific and Caribbean, with various synonyms in each region. The specimens studied here belong to the Caribbean region. Among the names included in the "complex
Tayuva lilacina
" from the Caribbean,
Discodoris hummelincki
(Ev. Marcus & Er. Marcus, 1963) is the oldest name. Although the species treated in this paper corresponds to the "complex
Tayuva lilacina
" from the Caribbean proposed by Dayrat (2010), here, we denote this species using the name
Discodoris hummelincki
. We have chosen not to use the name
Tayuva lilacina
because we believe that Dayrat (2010) was dealing with more than one species; furthermore, the species
Tayuva lilacina
was originally described from Hawaii, thus it probably does not represent the morphotype treated herein, once there is no example of species having a confirmed range including Hawaii and
Brazil
in
Nudibranchia
. Moreover, Dayrat (2010) separated
Tayuva
from
Discodoris
based on a poorly resolved phylogenetic tree, and he did not provide support values to show if it is indeed monophyletic. We follow the position proposed by Valdés (2002), that
Tayuva
is a junior synonym of
Discodoris
.
This is the first record of
Discodoris hummelincki
in
Brazil
.
The
types
of
Discodoris hummelincki
include a
holotype
and four
paratypes
(from different localities of the Piscadera Bay), of which the
holotype
and two
paratypes
are deposited in the Zöologisch Museum, Amsterdam. Ev. Marcus and Er. Marcus (1963) reported that only one
paratype
would be sent to the University of São Paulo. Therefore, according to Dayrat (2010), two
paratypes
were sent to University of São Paulo, one from St. Martha Bay and one from Piscadera Bay. We only found one specimen in the University of São Paulo labeled from
Curaçao
; this specimen is likely to be the
paratype
mentioned by Ev. Marcus and Er. Marcus (1963).
García
et al.
(2008: p. 140) listed
Diaulula phoca
Ev. Marcus & Er. Marcus, 1967a from the Brazilian coast, in São Paulo state. However, herein we are dealing with the same morphotype as described by García
et al.
(2008); we identified the species as
Discodoris hummelincki
due to certain characteristics: we did not find caryophyllidia (
Fig. 11
E), which are present in the genus
Diaulula
; and the deferent duct is long, thin and convoluted in
D. phoca
, whereas in
D. hummelincki
the deferent duct is short with an enlarged and curved proximal part (
Fig.12
A). Moreover, we found some distinguishing features only present in
D. hummelincki
, such as the muscle wall at the distal part of the reproductive system (
Figs. 12
A–B), the deferent duct with an enlarged, curved proximal portion (
Fig. 12
A), lateral teeth with protuberance on the base of the teeth (
Fig. 11
C), and white tubercles on the rhinophoral and branchial sheaths. Therefore, given that the only record of
Diaulula phoca
was based on a specimen of
Discodoris hummelincki
, we consider that
D. phoca
does not occur in the Brazilian coast.