Hypselodoris juniperae Epstein & Hallas & Johnson & Lopez & Gosliner 2018
Creators: name: Epstein, Hannah E.
name: Hallas, Joshua M.
name: Johnson, Rebecca Fay
name: Lopez, Alessandra
name: Gosliner, Terrence M.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2018
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Mollusca
Gastropoda
Nudibranchia
Chromodorididae
Hypselodoris
Hypselodoris juniperae

description: HYPSELODORIS JUNIPERAE
GOSLINER & JOHNSONSP. NOV.
(FIGS 1F, 2G, 16)
L S I D: u r n: l s i d: z o o b a n k. o r g:a c t: 3 E5 9 F D 3 C - 9CDD-4663-A867-EF74877AB7A8
Hypselodoris cf. maculosa Rudman, 1999b, in part.
Type material
Holotype: CASIZ 175550, subsampled for molecular study, dissected, wall at south end of reef, 14.157833°S, 47.6485°E, west of Nosy Valiha, Îles Radama, Madagascar, 15 October 2005, T. Gosliner and S. Fahey.
Type locality
West of Nosy Valiha, Îles Radama, Madagascar.
Geographical distribution
Known from Madagascar (present study) and possibly Sri Lanka (Houben, 2007), South Africa (Ogden, 2005) and Reunion Island (Bidgrain, 2005).
Etymology
This small but striking species is named for author Rebecca Johnson’s daughter, Juniper Rodgers. Juniper, also one of a kind, loves bright colours and patterns, and when she was only 4 years old said, ‘Slugs are just like land nudibranchs’. This nudibranch is for you.
Description
External morphology: Living animals (Fig. 1F) small, reaching 9 mm in length. Body long, slender, translucent pink, with four groups of small white tubercles arranged longitudinally in linear fashion. Two additional rows of submarginal spots. Deep purple spots found between areas of white spots, arranged in longitudinal rows. Centre of spots darker purple than outer portions. Broad orange band along lateral margins of notum, with deeper orange anteriorly and posteriorly in region of mantle glands. Anterior and posterior ends of the animal with purple areas. Similar pattern of lines and spots found on lateral margins of the body and foot. Five to six unipinnate gill branches having a translucent white base and inner margin and bright red–orange pigment on outer surface margin. Bulb of perfoliate rhinophores opaque white, with two red transverse bands and bearing ~11 densely arranged lamellae. Base of rhinophores translucent white.
Mantle glands: Subcutaneous mantle glands simple and rounded in shape (Fig. 2G). Glands situated anteriorly and posteriorly, with no glands present in the central lateral regions of body margin. Ten glands on either side of anterior end of the body, with arc of ten glands situated posteriorly.
Buccal armature: Muscular portion of buccal mass longer than oral tube. Chitinous labial cuticle found at anterior end of muscular portion of the buccal mass bearing numerous jaw rodlets (Fig. 16A). Rodlets sharply angled with single, acutely pointed apex and posterolateral extensions. Radular formula of holotype (CASIZ 175550) 33 × 19.0.19. Rachidian row of teeth absent (Fig. 16B). Innermost lateral teeth having one large triangular denticle on inner side of bifid primary cusp, with another two outer denticles. Next several laterals lacking inner triangular denticle but possessing two denticles on outer side of primary bifid cusps. Midlateral teeth (Fig. 16C) all lacking inner denticles but having two or three sharply pointed, triangular outer denticles. Outermost teeth having a narrower base and shorter tooth shape, with three to five rounded outer denticles (Fig. 16D).
Reproductive system: Reproductive organs immature.
Remarks
Hypselodoris juniperae is a member of a clade that includes H. alburtuqali, H. decorata and H. maculosa and is sister to H. maculosa. The ABGD analysis indicates that H. juniperae from the western Indian Ocean is distinct from H. maculosa from the western Pacific and they are 6.5–7.2% divergent in their COI gene, whereas the two western Pacific H. maculosa are 2.7% divergent from each other. The colour pattern of H. juniperae is similar to that of H. maculosa, but differs in having white spots arranged in lines rather than thin continuous lines (Bidgrain, 2005; Ogden, 2005; Houben, 2007; present study).
There appear to be fewer mantle glands in H. juniperae than in H. maculosa (Gosliner & Johnson, 1999: fig. 29D; present study). The jaw rodlets of H. juniperae have a shorter cusp than do those of H. maculosa (Figs 11B, 16A; Rudman, 1986: fig. 16E). The radula of H. juniperae is much narrower than that of H. maculosa, with only 19 teeth per half row as compared with 28–51 teeth per half row in H. maculosa (Rudman, 1986). The inner lateral teeth of H. maculosa have two or three denticles on the inner side of the bifid cusps and an additional two denticles on the outer side of the cusps (Fig. 11D; Rudman, 1986: fig. 16A, B), whereas in H. juniperae there is only a single inner denticle and one or two outer ones (Fig. 16B). The reproductive systems cannot be compared owing to the immaturity of the single specimen of H. juniperae.
description: Published as part of Epstein, Hannah E., Hallas, Joshua M., Johnson, Rebecca Fay, Lopez, Alessandra & Gosliner, Terrence M., 2018, Reading between the lines: revealing cryptic species diversity and colour patterns in Hypselodoris nudibranchs (Mollusca: Heterobranchia: Chromodorididae), pp. 1-74 in Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 20 (1) on pages 29-31, DOI: 10.1093/zoolinnean/zly048, http://zenodo.org/record/2632578