Naisdoris liklik (Gosliner, 2004)

Description

The body is elongate and relatively high, with a well-developed continuous notal border. A series of small subdermal mantle glands lies just beneath the notum in the posterior half of the body — a feature not previously described in any other species of Okenia. Body color is uniformly purplish pink, with a mid-dorsal band of chocolate brown that is interrupted by three irregular opaque white markings. The gill is uniformly opaque white. All but the posterior pair of papillae are tipped with an orange subapical marking, and in some specimens with a chocolate brown apex. The posterior pair and the single mid-dorsal papilla are purple with chocolate brown but lack orange pigment. There are 8–9 pairs of elongate lateral notal papillae; the two anteriormost pairs are situated in front of the rhinophores and anteriorly directed. A single mid-dorsal papilla is present anterior to the gill, in the form of a crenulate crest rather than a typical digitiform papilla. The gill consists of three unipinnate branches. The rhinophores are elongate with 17–18 congested lamellae. Living animals 3–4 mm.

Distribution

The type locality is Barracuda Point, Tab Island, Madang Lagoon, Madang, Papua New Guinea (10 m depth). Known from Papua New Guinea and Luzon Island (Philippines).

Etymology

Verbatim from the original description (Gosliner, 2004, p.141):

The specific epithet liklik is the Papuan pidgin word for small, in reference to the tiny body size of the mature specimens of this species.

Remarks

At the time of original description (Gosliner, 2004), the subdermal mantle glands situated near the posterior margin of the mantle were unknown in any other species. The transfer from Okenia to Naisdoris follows post-2004 phylogenetic work.

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References

• Okenia liklik Gosliner, sp. nov., Gosliner T. M. (2004). Phylogenetic Systematics of Okenia, Sakishmaia, Hopkinsiella and Hopkinsia (Nudibranchia: Goniodorididae) with descriptions of new species from the tropical Indo-Pacific". Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 55(5): 125-161.
• Okenia liklik, Terrence Gosliner, Ángel Valdés and David Behrens. (2015). Nudibranch and Sea Slug Identification Indo-Pacific. New World Pubns Inc.
• リクリクイバラウミウシ（新称）, 中野理枝. (2018). 日本のウミウシ. 文一総合出版.
• Paz-Sedano S., Moles J., Smirnoff D., Gosliner T.M. & Pola M. (2024). A combined phylogenetic strategy illuminates the evolution of Goniodorididae nudibranchs (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Heterobranchia). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 192: 107990. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2023.107990
• PAZ-SEDANO S., COBB G., GOSLINER T.M. & POLA M. (2024). Filling gaps in the knowledge of Goniodorididae taxa (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Nudibranchia) with description of seven new species. Zootaxa. 5443(4): 523-547. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5443.4.3