A cryptic radiation of Caribbean sea slugs revealed by integrative analysis: Cyerce ‘ antillensis’ (Sacoglossa: Caliphyllidae) is six distinct species
Author
Moreno, Karina
Department of Biological Sciences, California State Polytechnic University Pomona, Pomona, CA 91768, USA
Author
Rico, Diane M.
Department of Biological Sciences, California State University, Los Angeles, CA 90032 - 8201, USA
Author
Middlebrooks, Michael
Department of Biology, University of Tampa, Tampa, FL 33609, USA
Author
Medrano, Sabrina
Department of Biological Sciences, California State Polytechnic University Pomona, Pomona, CA 91768, USA
Author
Valdés, Ángel A.
Department of Biological Sciences, California State Polytechnic University Pomona, Pomona, CA 91768, USA
Author
Krug, Patrick J.
Department of Biological Sciences, California State University, Los Angeles, CA 90032 - 8201, USA
pkrug@calstatela.edu
text
Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society
2024
2023-10-12
200
4
940
979
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlad111
journal article
10.1093/zoolinnean/zlad111
0024-4082
PMC10983082
38566915
11240925
E8CC81A3-E625-4C48-B783-29AA9BFC83C3C
Cyerce edmundsi
T.E.
Thompson, 1977
Cyerce edmundsi
Thompson 1977: 136–137
, figs 22i, j, 24d.
Type material
Holotype
:
Discovery Bay
,
Jamaica
,
Caribbean Sea
(
NHMUK 19776
),
February 1976
,
5–8 mm
in length, not examined.
Range
Jamaica
(
Thompson 1977
).
Ecology
Diet unknown.
Remarks
Figure 19.
Cyerce browneveorum
, radular scanning electron micrographs of isolate 10Gei01; length of living animal, 5 mm. A, complete radula, with ascus. B, leading tooth. C, close-up view of discarded teeth in ascus.
Thompson (1977)
described
C. edmundsi
from the Caribbean as having ‘flattened, oval’ cerata containing branches of the digestive gland, with ‘pearl-like’ glands along the margin.
Cyerce edmundsi
was covered with ‘white pigment specks’, ‘white’ bifurcated rhinophores, and oral tentacles (
Thompson 1977
). Radular tooth morphology was described as ‘elongated’ and ‘spoon-like’, with trifid and bifid denticles, and the penis lacked a stylet. No transverse groove across the foot was noted. The lack of a transverse groove ventrally along the foot, the presence of digestive gland tubules in the cerata, and the shape of the denticles along the tooth described for
C. edmundsi
indicate this specimen does not belong to
Cyerce
.
Marcus (1982)
and
Hamatani (1994)
suggested that
C. edmundsi
was a synonym of
Mourgona germainae
Marcus & Marcus, 1970
. A previous molecular study (
Händeler and Wägele 2007
) included a specimen as
Cyerce
cf.
edmundsi
, but our phylogenetic analyses recovered this specimen within
C. antillensis
(
Fig. 2
).