Cyerce sp.

Moreno, Karina, Medrano, Sabrina, Gosliner, Terrence M., Wilson, Nerida G., Krug, Patrick J. & Valdés, Ángel, 2025, Phylogenetic systematics of the genus Cyerce Bergh, 1870 (Mollusca: Heterobranchia: Sacoglossa: Caliphyllidae) from the Pacific and Indian oceans with descriptions of nine new species, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 204 (1) : -

Cyerce sp.

( Fig. 15B)

Material examined

Al-Fasar Reef , Makkah Province, Saudi Arabia (Red Sea), 12 Oct 2016, leg. G. Rouse, 1 specimen (SIOBIC M15705); 13 Oct 2016, leg. G. Rouse, 1 specimen (SIOBIC M15387) .

Description

External morphology: Body colour beige, with dark brown patches dorsally running along both sides of body ( Fig. 15B). Head colour beige. Rhinophores long, translucent beige, with white speckling at tips. Oral tentacles beige. Cerata inflated, obovate, translucent with white speckling throughout; light fluorescent green spot at base of each ceras. Ceratal margin with evenly distributed large clusters of white specks; row of white (possibly defensive) glands along margin. Foot colour translucent white.

Internal morphology: Material could not be obtained for examination of internal morphology.

Range Red Sea (present study). Ecology Diet unknown.

Remarks

Species delimitation and phylogenetic analyses all supported Cyerce sp. as a candidate species distinct from other members of the C. elegans species complex ( Fig. 1B; Table 3). Cyerce sp. was recovered as sister to the rest of the complex. In external morphology, Cyerce sp. differed from other complex members by having cerata that are much more inflated and translucent than in C. elegans , but lacking white veins or lines across the cerata observed in C. basi sp. nov. and C. whaapi sp. nov. The penial stylet of C. elegans and C. sp. could not be observed and, therefore, could not make be compared with other complex members. Because of the absence of anatomical data, this species is not formally described herein.

Bergh’s (1871) description of C. elegans included details of the external morphology such as a yellowish-white body, translucent yellowish-white cerata, a green spot at the base of each ceras, and a reddish-brown band outlining the ceratal margin with large spots. The specimens of C. sp. here examined closely resemble this description, but lack the reddish-brown ceratal margin. We were unable to examine the internal anatomy of Cyerce sp. but features of the external anatomy distinguish this delimited entity from all other complex members.