The curious case of Phyllidia ocellata and the first molecular data of three phyllidiid species from India (Gastropoda, Heterobranchia, Phyllidiidae)

ABSTRACT

The current study presents the first molecular data of three species of the family Phyllidiidae, Phyllidia ocellata, Phyllidia alyta and Phyllidiella rosans, from Indian waters. The P. ocellata molecular sequences closely match those available from the Pacific Ocean, whereas P. alyta and P. rosans form independent clades, confirming their identifications as distinct species. Phyllidia ocellata, frequently found in the Indo-Pacific tropical coral reefs, is renowned for its wide range of colours and external forms. Numerous variations have been found and are being examined at the molecular level, and the subject of this study is another variation that, until dissection and molecular analysis, was thought to be a colour form of Phyllidia multituberculata. Although India has a long history of heterobranch research, no phyllidiid species from Indian waters have ever been the subject of molecular research.

KEYWORDS:

• Nudibranchia
• molecular taxonomy
• Phyllidia alyta
• Phyllidia multituberculata
• Phyllidiella rosans
• Western Indian Ocean

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), Government of India for proving the opportunity and facilities to visit Agatti Island. The first author would also like to thank B. Kishore Kumar (CMLRE) for support in logistics and Mr. Sikander Hussain (Dive Instructor, PADI) for support in SCUBA surveys. The second author would like to thank Mr. Shijin Ameri, CMFRI and Wilson Sebastian, CMLRE for help and suggestions regarding the molecular data. This work would not have been completed without the support of the local staff of the CMLRE field station at Agatti Island. We would like to thank the reviewers for their comments which helped improve this paper, and the subject editor Don Colgan for his patience. SD – Collection, dissection, identification, writing – original draft/ review and editing, visualisation; NY – Writing – original draft/ review and editing, literature review; VKV – Molecular studies, phylogenetic tree construction, analyses; HM – Field coordination, resources acquisition, editing of the manuscript, review; NS – Supervision, project investigation and administration, review. This is CMLRE contribution number 163.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The materials used in this manuscript are deposited in reference institution detailed in the corresponding sections in the text.