Murphydoris cobbi 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 cobbi

description: MURPHYDORIS COBBI SP. NOV.
(FIGS 2C, D, 3D–F, 4E–H, 5)
‘ Goniodoridella sp. 2 ’ – Debelius & Kuiter (2007: 29). ‘ Goniodoridella sp. 1 ’ – Cobb & Willian (2006: 79). ‘ Goniodoridella sp. 8 ’ – Gosliner et al. (2015: 134). ‘ Goniodoridella sp. 8 ’ – Gosliner et al. (2018: 51).
Z o o b a n k r e g i s t r a t i o n: u r n: l s i d: z o o b a n k. org:act: 399921BD-F4E3-4204-A76A-8DA92ED07636.
Material examined: Holotype. QMMO 85978 (Australia, Queensland, La Balsa Park, Mooloolah River, 26°41′S, 153°08′E, 3–6 m depth; coll. G. Cobb, 29 June 2017), one preserved specimen, 2 mm long. Paratypes. QMMO 85979, QMMO 85981 - QMMO 85984, MNCN 15.05 / 200142 (Australia, Queensland, La Balsa Park, Mooloolah River, 26°41 ′ S, 153°08′E, 3–6 m depth; coll. G. Cobb). QMMO 85979 (Fig. 2D) (29 June 2017), one preserved specimen, 4 mm long, dissected (SEM: Radula). QMMO 85981 (29 September 2019), one preserved specimen 2 mm long, µCT. QMMO 85982 (Fig. 3F) (29 September 2019), one preserved specimen, 3 mm long, dissected (SEM: Radula, labial cuticle). QMMO 85983 (Figs 3E, 4F–H) (29 September 2019), one preserved specimen, 3 mm long, dissected (SEM: Radula, labial cuticle). QMMO 85984 (Fig. 4E) (29 September 2019), one preserved specimen, 2 mm long, dissected (SEM: Radula, labial cuticle). MNCN 15.05 /200142 (29 September 2019), 18 preserved specimens. CASIZ 186114, CASIZ 186119, CASIZ 186123 (Philippines, Luzon, Batangas Province, Mabini, Balayan Bay, Matotonngil Point, 13°45′N, 120°54′E). CASIZ 186114 (coll. A. Hermosillo and P. Paleracio, 8 May 2011), one preserved specimen, 5 mm long, dissected (SEM: Radula). CASIZ 186119 (coll. T. M. Gosliner, 3 May 2011), one preserved specimen, 4 mm long, dissected (SEM: Radula). CASIZ 186123 (coll. T. M. Gosliner, 10 May 2011). CASIZ 186116, CASIZ 217417 (Philippines, Luzon, Batangas Province, Balayan Bay, Ligpo, 13°49′N, 120°54′E). CASIZ 186116 (coll. A. Hermosillo, 2 May 2011). CASIZ 217417 (coll. T. M. Gosliner, 17 April 2016). CASIZ 217284 (Philippines, Negros, Negros Oriental Province, Siaton, Siit; coll. T. M. Gosliner, 5 April 2016). CASIZ 206795 (Figs 1, 2C) (Philippines, Luzon, Batangas Province, Lobo, Malabrigo, 13°36′N, 121°15′E; coll. P.J. Aristorenas, 15 April 2015).
Distribution: Indian and Western Pacific Oceans (Cobb & Willan, 2006; Gosliner et al., 2015, 2018), including New Caledonia: Noumea (Huaux, 2021); the Philippines: Mudjimba Island (Mullins, 2009) and Batangas, (De Marchini, 2021; present study); and Australia: Queensland (Cobb, 2005; Debelius & Kuiter, 2007; Mullins, 2009; present study).
Ecology: Murphydoris cobbi is found in shallow sandy slopes among coral rubble (Gosliner et al., 2015).
Etymology: Murphydoris cobbi is named after Gary Cobb, who collected, photographed and made numerous comments on the specimens studied, which greatly facilitated its description.
External morphology (Figs 2C, D, 3D): Preserved specimens between 2 and 4 mm length. Body tall, limaciform and narrow. Foot tapered posteriorly, with slightly rounded edge at its front end. Foot narrow, does not protrude from sides of notum. Notal border well developed, reduced, ending in two lateral processes in posterior part of notum, one on each side of anal opening. Processes wide and elongated, wing-shaped. They are likely a modification of the branchial gill (Fig. 3D). No dorsal or lateral papillae. Rhinophores nonretractile and smooth, located at anterior part of body. Rhinophoral sheath absent. Mouth displaced towards ventral zone, lacking oral tentacles. Reproductive opening located halfway up right side of body. Whole body, including lateral processes, covered by network of spicules.
Colour pattern (Fig. 2C, D): Body hyaline white, with dark brown line surrounding the area behind rhinophores and widens towards sides. Second transverse band often present posterior to wingshaped processes. Some specimens with some small brown spots, dispersed randomly on body or in middle and behind lateral processes. Processes with same coloration of body. Rhinophores translucent white.
Foregut anatomy (Figs 3E, 4E–G, 5A): Buccal bulb muscular. Elongated and small buccal pump located dorsally. Radular sac short, descending ventrally and expanding backwards. Oesophagus originates at buccal bulb, behind buccal pump. Nervous system surrounds this area. One small rounded salivary gland presents on each side at junction of oesophagus and buccal pump (Fig. 3E). Oesophagus continues and inserts into digestive-hermaphroditic gland (Fig. 5A). Oesophagus slightly wider at middle part, but oesophageal pump not differentiated (Fig. 5A). Stomach and oesophagus meet in diffuse chamber inside digestive-hermaphroditic gland. Elongated stomach, almost as wide as intestine at its beginning, left part of body. Intestine continues laterally towards right side of body and ends in dorsal, posterior anus (Fig. 5A). Labial cuticle surrounds lips and expands within buccal pump. It appears as a network similar to a honeycomb on inside buccal pump (Fig. 4E). Radular formula 14–19 × 1.1.0.1.1. Inner lateral tooth large and robust, with one upper cusp. Masticatory margin with small notches (Fig. 4F, G). Base of these teeth wide and straight (Fig. 4F, G). Outer lateral tooth much smaller, hook-shaped, with two sharp cusps. Upper cusp somewhat longer than lower (Fig. 4G). Base of outer tooth wide, robust and elongated.
Reproductive system (Figs 3F, 4H, 5B): Reproductive system located in anterior-third of body. Thin and elongate hermaphroditic duct begins at ovotestis, located inside digestive-hermaphroditic gland. Hermaphroditic duct expands into kidney-shaped ampulla. Ampulla becomes thin proximally and continues as a short post-ampullary duct that divides into prostatic portion of vas deferens and oviduct. Oviduct enters female gland. Prostate wide and elongated, becomes narrow and continues as thin vas deferens, ending in penial sac at most distal part. Penial sac spherical. Penis armed. Penial spines small, thin, and pointed (Fig. 4H). Vagina short, curves and widens near origin of ducts connecting with bursa copulatrix, receptaculum seminis and uterine duct. Bursa copulatrix large and pyriform. From base of bursa copulatrix, short, narrow, curly duct merges into receptaculum seminis. Receptaculum seminis pyriform, smaller than bursa copulatrix. Thin and large uterine duct connects distal part of vagina with female gland mass.
Remarks: Murphydoris cobbi differs from M. singaporensis and M. adusta in its colour pattern. Murphydoris cobbi has a general white body, whereas M. singaporensis is translucent white with many dark reddish-brown blotches and spots (Sigurdson, 1991; Swennen & Buatip, 2012) and M. adusta has a chocolate brown body with pale blue, iridescent white and yellow patches. Also, M. singaporensis and M. adusta have one gill branch on each end of the mantle edge (Paz-Sedano et al., 2021b), whereas these structures are modified in M. cobbi, having wing-shaped processes that likely have a respiratory function. Internally, the radula of M. adusta has only one row of teeth per side while M. cobbi has two. Moreover, the radula of M. singaporensis has inner teeth with a denticulate masticatory margin with small, thin denticles and outer teeth with one cusp, while the masticatory margin in M. cobbi has small, discrete notches and the outer teeth have two cusps (Swennen & Buatip, 2012; Paz-Sedano et al., 2021b). Within the reproductive system, the size of the vagina is notably different in M. singaporensis and M. cobbi, being thin and elongated in the former and short and wider in M. cobbi (Swennen & Buatip, 2012; Paz-Sedano et al., 2021b). Also, the uterine duct arises near the base of the receptaculum seminis in M. singaporensis, while in M. cobbi it arises from the vagina (Swennen & Buatip, 2012; Paz-Sedano et al., 2021b). Murphydoris adusta has a rounded bursa copulatrix and elongated receptaculum seminis, whereas M. cobbi has a pyriform bursa copulatrix and receptaculum seminis (Table 3). The molecular analyses support the difference between M. adusta and M. cobbi (Fig. 1), with a p -distance of 14.5–15.1% for 16S (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 259-260, DOI: 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlac002, http://zenodo.org/record/7037692