Murphydoris puncticulata Paz-Sedano & Smirnoff & Candás & Gosliner & Pola 2022, SP. NOV.
Creators: name: Paz-Sedano, Sofía
name: Smirnoff, Dimitri
name: Candás, María
name: Gosliner, Terrence M.
name: Pola, Marta
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Mollusca
Gastropoda
Nudibranchia
Goniodorididae
Murphydoris
Murphydoris puncticulata

description: MURPHYDORIS PUNCTICULATA SP. NOV.
(FIGS 2F, G, 3I–K, 6D–H)
‘ Goniodoridella sp. 1 ’ – Gosliner et al. (2008: 126). ‘ Goniodoridella sp. 1 ’ – Gosliner et al. (2015: 133). ‘ Goniodoridella sp. 1 ’ – Gosliner et al. (2018: 50). ‘ Goniodoridella sp. 11’ – Nakano (2018: 169).
Z o o b a n k r e g i s t r a ti o n: u r n: l s i d: z o o b a n k. org:act: 8DB73463-292D-45AC-B0BB-EE3481B62319.
Material examined: Holotype. WAM S72711 (Figs 1, 2F, 3J, K) (Australia, Queensland, La Balsa Park, Mooloolah River, 26°41′S, 153°08′E, 3–6 m depth; coll. G. Cobb, 28 December 2018), one preserved specimen, 4 mm long, dissected (SEM: Radula, labial cuticle). Paratypes. MNCN 15.05 /200149– MNCN 15.05 /200150, WAM S72710, WAM S71781, WAM S71785, WAM S17182, WAM S72709, WAM S72089, WAM S72462 (Australia, Queensland, La Balsa Park, Mooloolah River, 26°41′S, 153°08′E, 3–6 m depth; coll. G. Cobb). MNCN 15.05 / 200149 (Fig. 6G) (11 December 2019), one preserved specimen, 2 mm long, dissected (SEM: Radula, labial cuticle). MNCN 15.05 / 200150 (Fig. 6G) (2019), one preserved specimen, 3 mm long, dissected (SEM: Radula, labial cuticle). WAM S72710 (Fig. 2G) (15 December 2018), one preserved specimen, 3 mm long. WAM S71781 (May 2018), 1 preserved specimen, 4 mm long, dissected (SEM: Radula). WAM S71785 (Fig. 6D–F) (May 2018), one preserved specimen 3 mm long, dissected (SEM: Radula, labial cuticle). WAM S17182 (May 2018), one preserved specimen, 3 mm long. WAM S72709 (15 December 2018), one preserved specimen, 5 mm long. WAM S72089 (20 November 2017), two preserved specimens. WAM S72462 (4 December 2016), one preserved specimen, 4 mm long, dissected (SEM: Radula, labial cuticle). CASIZ 222055 (Philippines, Visayas, Romblon Province, Alad Isand, Romblon Province, Visayas; coll. A. Fritts-Penniman, 7 April 2017), dissected (SEM: Radula). CASIZ 224656 (Philippines, Visayas, Romblon Province, Cobrador Island; col. K. L. Larkin, 19 March 2018).
Distribution: Murphydoris puncticulata is found in the western and central Pacific Ocean (Gosliner et al., 2018), in Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia (Gosliner et al., 2008, 2015), the Philippines (Gosliner et al., 2018, present study), Hawaii (Gosliner et al., 2008, 2015; Pittman & Fiene, 2020), Japan: Shizuoka prefecture (Kakegawa, 2018) and Izu Island (Nakano, 2018), Indonesia: Bacan (Sali Bay Dive Resort, 2021) and Bali (Kakegawa, 2017) and Australia: Queensland (Cobb, 2020; present study).
Ecology: The species has been found under coral rubble on reefs from the intertidal up to 10 m deep (Gosliner et al., 2018).
Etymology: From Latin diminutive of punctum, point or dot. Murphydoris puncticulata is named after the brown notches formed by dots.
External morphology (Figs 2F, G, 3I): Preserved specimens 2–7 mm length. Body limaciform and narrow. Foot acutely tapered at posterior end, with rounded edge at anterior part. Foot narrow, does not protrude from sides of notum. Notal border evident, reduced, continuing towards trilobate gill branches located at posterior part (Fig. 3I), same level of anal opening. Several small tubercles randomly located at sides of body. Tubercles supported by internal spicules. Dorsal or lateral papillae absent. Rhinophores nonretractile and smooth, located at anterior part of body. Rhinophoral sheath absent. Mouth displaced towards ventral zone without oral tentacles. Reproductive opening located halfway up right side. Whole body, including lateral processes, covered by dense net of spicules.
Colour pattern (Fig. 2F, G): Body white with small dark brown spots scattered along body. One triangular band of concentrated brown spots at anterior portion of dorsum, behind rhinophores. Transverse dark brown patch at head, between rhinophores. Third horizontal band of concentrated spots behind gill. Rhinophores, gill branches and foot whitish translucent.
Foregut anatomy (Figs 3J, 6D–G): Buccal bulb muscular. Dorsal buccal pump elongates posteriorly. Radular sac short descending ventrally. Thin oesophagus originating at buccal bulb, behind buccal pump. Nervous system surrounds this area. Oesophagus becoming wider and continuing to oesophageal pump. Small, rounded salivary gland present on each side, at junction of oesophagus and buccal pump (Fig. 3J). Labial cuticle surrounding lips and expands within buccal pump. It appears as a network similar to a honeycomb on inside buccal pump (Fig. 6D). Radular formula 13 × 1.1.0.1.1. Inner lateral tooth large and robust, with one cusp and masticatory margin bearing between five and seven sharped denticles (Fig. 6E, F). Base of these teeth wide and straight (Fig. 6E). Outer lateral tooth much smaller with two sharp cusps, the upper somewhat longer than the lower (Fig. 6G). Base of outer tooth wide and rectangular.
Reproductive system (Figs 3K, 6H): Reproductive system located at anterior-third of body. Thin preampullary duct begins at ovotestis, located inside digestive-hermaphroditic gland. Pre-ampullary duct expands into large, bean-shaped ampulla. Thin postampullary duct arises from ampulla and enters in female gland mass. Inside female gland mass it divides into prostatic portion of vas deferens and oviduct. Prostate long and wide, becomes narrow and continuing as elongated vas deferens. Vas deferent as long as prostate, ends ending in a slightly wider penial sac in most distal part. Penis armed with small, hook-shaped penial spines at its base. Spines become longer, thinner and more pointed at most distal part of penis (Fig. 6H). Vagina short, as wide as vas deferens, connects with oval bursa copulatrix. From base of bursa copulatrix two thin ducts arise; one connects with small and elongated receptaculum seminis. Second duct corresponds to thin and long uterine duct, which enters in female gland mass.
Remarks: Murphydoris puncticulata, M. cobbi and M. maracabranchia share having white body colour. Murphydoris puctulatum and M. cobbi have a hyaline white body with dark brown spots, one brown patch behind the rhinophores and one behind the gill. However, in M. cobbi this patch behind the rhinophores consists of a continuous line, while in M. puncticulata it is formed by several spots. Murphydoris maracabranchia has a brown line behind the rhinophores but lacks brown spots along the body. Moreover, in M. cobbi the gill is likely modified as two wing-shaped processes at the end of the notal border, while in M. maracabranchia the gill is narrow at the base with wider and rounded tip and M. puncutulatum has three distinguishable gill branches (Fig. 3). Murphydoris puncticulata has marked tubercles along the sides of the body that are absent in M. cobbi. With respect to the reproductive system, the uterine duct arises from the middle of the vagina in M. cobbi, from the middle of a duct between the bursa copulatrix and the receptaculum seminis in M. maracabranchia and near the base of the receptaculum seminis in M. puncticulata. Also, the receptaculum seminis and the bursa copulatrix are much larger in M. cobbi than in M. puncticulata. The receptaculum seminis is pyriform in M. cobbi, oval in M. maracabranchia and elongated in M. puncticulata (Table 3). Molecular results support M. puncticulata as different species (Fig. 1), having a COI p -distance of 10.7–11.2% and 19.4% with M. cobbi and M. maracabranchia, respectively; and a 16S p- distance of 13.2–14.5%, 7.9–8.2% and 18.9–19.2% with M. adusta, M. cobbi and M. maracabranchia, respectively (Table 2).
description: Published as part of Paz-Sedano, Sofía, Smirnoff, Dimitri, Candás, María, Gosliner, Terrence M. & Pola, Marta, 2022, Rediscovering the overlooked genus Murphydoris (Nudibranchia: Goniodorididae): the first phylogeny and addition of four new species, pp. 250-269 in Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 196 on pages 262-265, DOI: 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlac002, http://zenodo.org/record/7037692