A description of Dendronotus shpataki sp. nov. (Gastropoda: Nudibranchia) from the Sea of Japan: a contribution of citizen science to marine zoology

I.A. Ekimova, A.L. Mikhlina, T.I. Antokhina & D.M. Schepetov

Abstract. The nudibranch genus Dendronotus Alder et Hancock, 1845 is a common component of boreal and arctic ecosystems, which has recently received a considerable attention due to its high cryptic diversity. Here we describe a new species Dendronotus shpataki sp. nov. from the northwestern Sea of Japan, using the material and observations provided by Andrey Shpatak, a local citizen, diver and underwater photographer. We studied morphological features of the new species, including external morphology, coloration, jaw and radular morphology, and configuration of the reproductive system, as well as its ecological traits including possible diet preferences. We obtained DNA sequences and reconstructed the phylogeny by Bayesian Inference and Maximum Likelihood approaches using four molecular markers (mitochondrial COI and 16S rRNA, and nuclear histone H3 and 28S rRNA), and tested the boundaries between the species by calculating the uncorrected p-distances and automatic species delimitation methods ABGD and GMYC. Our results show that D. shpataki sp. nov. differs both morphologically and genetically from all other Dendronotus species. The new species possibly represents a unique example of local endemism, being found in a single locality, while other local Dendronotus species demonstrate wide distribution in the North-West Pacific. We also report on a considerable wearing of the radular teeth during feeding, which is a remarkable case for the Dendronotus.

Key words: North-West Pacific, biodiversity, morphology, radula, molecular markers, phylogeny, Nudibranchia, Dendronotidae, Dendronotus, new species

Zoosystematica Rossica, 2022, 31(1): 3–19 ▪ Published online 28 January 2022

https://doi.org/10.31610/zsr/2022.31.1.3 ▪ Open full article

Electronic supplementary materials

Electronic supplementary material 1

Map of the North-West Pacific showing a single collection locality in the Sea of Japan. File format: JPEG.

Electronic supplementary material 2

Unedited concatenated Bayesian and Maximum Likelihood trees (COI + 16S + H3 + 28S) and single-gene trees of each marker from Maximum Likelihood inference. File format: TRE, six files as 7Z archive.

Electronic supplementary material 3

List of specimens used in this study with voucher numbers, collection localities and GenBank accession numbers. Specimens sequenced for the present study are given in bold. File format: XLSX.

Electronic supplementary material 4

Results of ABGD analysis, simple distance method. Histogram of pairwise distances is given on the upper left diagram, note barcode gap between 0.03 and 0.04 distance value. Number of species applying different Prior intraspecific divergence (P) is shown on the lower diagram. The results from initial partition are indicated as yellow dots, those from recursive partition, as red dots. File format: JPEG.

Electronic supplementary material 5

Results of GMYC analysis showing a COI ultrametric non-calibrated tree of the genus Dendronotus that was produced with BEAST and analysed applying splits package in R environment. Respective voucher numbers for each specimen are given after species names; for full list, see Electronic supplementary material 3. Red branches indicate intraspecific diversity, black branches, interspecific relationships. File format: PDF.

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