Gymnodoris boussionae De Souza-Canal, R. Nakano & Á. Valdés, 2025

Description

Body elongate, smooth, lacking tubercles. Body color velvet black with blurry neon-blue lines visible on the mantle margin under certain light conditions. Rhinophores conical, separate at the base (fused in G. nigricolor); the entire visible length of each rhinophore bears 10 transverse lamellae. Gill composed of 16–19 simple leaves arranged in a circle.

Distribution

Considered endemic to New Caledonia. Type locality: Reef of Infrenet, Koumac, New Caledonia (6 m). Known from the Koumac area and Poum (Ouanne) at depths of about 2–11 m. Rare.

Etymology

Named in honor of Magali Boussion, a French diver and underwater videographer based in New Caledonia, in appreciation of her contributions to several sea slug collecting expeditions and her field documentation of this species.

Remarks

Externally very similar to G. nigricolor but distinguished by (1) rhinophores that are separate at the base rather than fused, and (2) more numerous branchial leaves (16–19 vs 10–11). Radular and reproductive characters also separate the two, and molecular analyses recover G. boussionae as a strongly supported monophyletic clade. Feeding behavior has not been observed in the field.

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References

• Gymnodoris boussionae n. sp., DE SOUZA-CANAL J., NAKANO R. & VALDÉS Á. (2025). Gymnodoris nigricolor Baba, 1960 (Mollusca, Nudibranchia, Polyceridae) is a species complex. Zoosystema. 47(17): 315-326. https://doi.org/10.5252/zoosystema2025v47a17