Doris adrianae sp. nov. (Heterobranchia; Nudibranchia; Doridina) from the Galician coasts (NW Iberian Peninsula).

Abstract

Abstract

A new species of dorid nudibranch, Doris adrianae sp. nov. is described, from the Ría de Ferrol (NW Iberian Peninsula) on rocky bottoms, between 11 and 20 m deep, where the sponge Polymastia boletiformis (Lamarck, 1815) on which it feeds is common. The new species is oval-shaped and yellow to yellow-orange in colour, with the back covered by rounded tubercles of various sizes, reinforced by tegumentary spicules. It is characterised by numerous integumentary and fusiform calcareous spicules, mainly grouped in multispicular bundles that give it a complex and very dense skeletal structure, giving the animal great consistency without losing flexibility. In addition, it differs from other known species of the genus Doris Linnaeus, 1758 by various external and internal characters, mainly by the colouring and tubercles of the body, characters of the radula and of the digestive and reproductive systems. Doris adrianae sp. nov. also presents a marked genetic distance in the barcode fragment (cox1-5') with other species of the genus Doris.