Itaxia, Korshunova, Tatiana, Martynov, Alexander, Bakken, Torkild, Evertsen, Jussi, Fletcher, Karin, Mudianta, I Wayan, Saito, Hiroshi, Lundin, Kennet, Michael Schroedl, & Picton, Bernard, 2017

Korshunova, Tatiana, Martynov, Alexander, Bakken, Torkild, Evertsen, Jussi, Fletcher, Karin, Mudianta, I Wayan, Saito, Hiroshi, Lundin, Kennet, Michael Schroedl, & Picton, Bernard, 2017, Polyphyly of the traditional family Flabellinidae affects a major group of Nudibranchia: aeolidacean taxonomic reassessment with descriptions of several new families, genera, and species (Mollusca, Gastropoda), ZooKeys 717, pp. 1-139 : 35

Itaxia gen. n. Figs 21, 29

Type species.

Coryphella falklandica Eliot, 1907

Etymology.

After itax (meaning “south” in Yagán (Yaghan), a nearly extinct language) because Yagáns are regarded as the southernmost peoples in the world who traditionally inhabited the very end of South America thus are close to the range of the only known coryphellid nudibranchs from the southern sub-Antarctic waters.

Diagnosis.

Body moderately wide. Notal ridge present, reduced, continuous. Cerata in continuous rows. Rhinophores wrinkled. Anterior foot corners present. Rachidian teeth with non-compressed broad cusp and distinct denticles. Lateral teeth denticulated without attenuated process basally. Receptaculum seminis unknown. Vas deferens very short, thick. Penis broad, lobe-shaped.

Species included.

Itaxia falklandica (Eliot, 1907), comb. n. (Fig. 29) (original description in Eliot 1907, morphological data in Odhner 1944; Marcus 1959, Schrödl 2003; neotype from southern Chile ( Bahía Mansa) designated by Schrödl 2003).

Remarks.

Externally the single included species Itaxia falklandica is similar to the species of the genus Borealia , with a moderately wide body and continuous notal margin; however, the reproductive system with short vas deferens and broad penis more closely resembles the genera Gulenia and Fjordia . In the present study, molecular data for I. falklandica was obtained for the first time from the specimens from southern Chile. Most unexpectedly, our molecular analysis places Itaxia falklandica as sister to the genus Microchlamylla (see below) which differs considerably from Itaxia by the presence of a discontinuous notal edge and a remarkable reproductive system with several loops of thin vas deferens without a distinct prostate and a small narrow penis (Figs 21, 30I).