Doris berghi ( Vayssière, 1901 )

Renau, Mar F., Salvador, Xavier & Moles, Juan, 2024, Molecular and morpho-anatomical assessment of the family Dorididae (Mollusca, Nudibranchia) in the Mediterranean and North-East Atlantic, European Journal of Taxonomy 943, pp. 59-79 : 68-69

Doris berghi ( Vayssière, 1901) comb. rest.

Figs 2–3 , 4B–E , 5D–F , 6B

Aldisa berghi Vayssière, 1901: 27 , pl. 1 figs 26–27.

Type locality

Gulf of Marseille, France, the Mediterranean Sea.

Diagnosis

Body shape convex. Mantle yellow whitish, dorsal tubercles white, translucid. Rhinophores white. First lateral tooth hook-shaped; outermost lateral teeth with a cusp extending ½ of the total length. Seminal receptacle elongated, brown. Bursa copulatrix round, whitish or slightly orange.

Material examined

SPAIN – Galicia • 1 spec. (sequenced and dissected: L = 70 mm); Galicia, Playa Viveiro ; 43.6740° N, 7.6004° W; 1 m depth; 1 Jul. 2022; Xavier Salvador leg.; GenBank: OR286435 ; ZSM20240261 . – Canary Islands • 1 spec. (sequenced); Gran Canaria, Piscinas de Agaete ; 28.1068° N, 15.7112° W; 2 m depth; 5 Jul. 2022; Xavier Salvador leg.; GenBank: OR286436 ; ZSM20240262 . – Catalonia • 1 spec. (sequenced and dissected: L = 0.4 cm); Girona , Sant Feliu de Guíxols , Coves Cala Maset ; 41.7865° N, 3.0447° E; 3 m depth; 22 Feb. 2019; Xavier Salvador leg.; GenBank: OR286438 ; ZSMMol20210024 .

Description

EXTERNAL MORPHOLOGY ( Fig. 4E ). Body compressed, convex in shape. Mantle white to yellow, darker at centre of dorsum, where viscera are found, translucid in margins. Mantle edge extending, covering foot. Dorsal tubercles white, with a brown-orange apex, more prominent and larger in a central band that goes from the rhinophores to the branchial plume, smaller tubercles with more intense apex colouration. Spicules translucid, interconnecting tubercles. Gills translucid. Rhinophores white, lamellated (6 lamellae), retracted into rhinophoral sheath once fixed.

RADULA ( Fig. 5D–F ). Radular formula 24 × 40.1.0.1.40. First lateral tooth hook-shaped, thin. Consequent lateral teeth present a less noticeable hook shape, thick base, smooth and relatively short cusp. Outermost lateral teeth with a cusp extending ½ of total length.

DIGESTIVE SYSTEM. Alike D. ocelligera (ZSM20240260).

REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEM ( Fig. 6B ). Gonad alike D. ocelligera . Ampulla pink with shady parts, round end connecting to gonad. Vaginal duct and penial sheath alike D. ocelligera , visible portion of vas deferens shorter. Seminal receptacle brown, elongated. Bursa copulatrix round, white, or slightly orange.

Ecology

Found in a rocky substrate. No sponge spicules were found in the stomach or intestine of the dissected specimens.

Distribution

Originally described from the Mediterranean part of France. Here, we found two specimens of D. berghi comb. rest. in the Nort-West part of the Mediterranean Sea, on the Catalan coast, and two more in the North-East part of the Atlantic Ocean, in Galicia and Gran Canaria. Therefore, the distribution seems to overlap with that of D. ocelligera .

Remarks

Here, we describe the restored combination D. berghi comb. rest., which coincides with Vayssière’s (1901: 27) description of Aldisa berghi , considered as a synonym of D. ocelligera and described as: “Dorid presenting a golden yellow colouration. The dorsal side of the mantle presents white dots scattered over its entire extent. Tubercles of variable size, wart-like with a large brown spot at their top. The yellow colouration is more accentuated on the anterior surface and the lower surface of the foot. It presents pale yellow rhinophores and gill leaflets with a few white or greyish mottled spots”. This species is clearly distinguished from D. ocelligera by the external pale-yellow colouration, the white rhinophores, the extension of the outermost lateral teeth cusp, and the shape and relative size of the copulatory bursa and seminal receptacle.

Figures

Fig. 2. Bayesian phylogenetic tree of Dorididae Rafinesque, 1815 based on the concatenated alignment of COI, 16S, and H3 markers. Posterior probabilities and bootstrap support values are shown above and below branches, respectively. The outgroup used to root the tree was the genus Aphelodoris Bergh, 1879. Green dots indicate nodes with maximum branch support in both analyses. The scale bar indicates substitutions per site. Names of the sequences downloaded from GenBank have not been modified, yet taxa that may belong to a different identity are specified between quotation marks. Specimens sequenced in this study are highlighted in bold.

Fig. 3. Results from ASAP for both COI (top) and 16S (bottom) markers of the alignment of the species within the genus Doris Linnaeus, 1758 based on the phylogenetic tree results. Colour boxes refer to species hypotheses and the dash-line is the threshold (representing a 5–10% genetic divergence distance) in which species hypotheses were selected.

Fig. 4. A. Doris verrucosa Linnaeus, 1758 (ZSM20210044) from Thau, SE France. B–E. Doris berghi (Vayssière, 1901) comb. rest. B. Specimen from Sant Feliu de Guíxols, NE Spain (ZSMMol20210024). C. Specimenfrom Begur,NE Spain (MCZMal395161).D. Specimenfrom GranCanaria (ZSM20240262). E. Specimen from Galicia, NW Spain (ZSM20240261). F–H. Doris ocelligera (Bergh, 1881). F. Specimen from l’Escala, NE Spain (MCZ395160).G. Specimen from Sant Feliu de Guíxols, NE Spain (ZSM20240260). H. Specimen from Sant Feliu de Guíxols, NE Spain (ZSM20240259).

Fig. 5. Scanning electron micrographs of the radular teeth. A–C. Doris ocelligera (Bergh, 1881) (ZSM20240260). D–F. Doris berghi (Vayssière, 1901) comb. rest. (ZSM20240261). Showing first (fl) and subsequent (cl) lateral teeth.

Fig. 6. Schematic drawing of the reproductive systems. A. Doris ocelligera (Bergh, 1881). B. Doris berghi (Vayssière, 1901) comb. rest. Abbreviations: A = ampulla; Bc = bursa copulatrix; Fgl = female glands; Ps = penial sheath; R = seminal receptacle; Vd = vas deferens; Vdu = vaginal duct. The black arrowheads represent the connection of the ampulla to the gonad.