Cyerce liliuokalaniae, Moreno & Medrano & Gosliner & Wilson & Krug & Valdés, 2025

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 liliuokalaniae sp.nov.

( Figs 20D, 22C, 25)

LSID: zoobank.org:act: C1416ACA-BE38-49CD-8971- 1A9243926FEF.

Type material

Holotype: Waikiki , Honolulu, Oʻahu, Hawaiian Islands, USA, 24 Jun 2018, leg. K. García, 11 mm preserved length, dissected (isolate KG02 , LACM 3859 ).

Other material examined

Maliko Bay , Maui, Hawaiian Islands, USA, 28 Jun 2016, 1 specimen 9 mm preserved length, dissected (isolate 16Mau69, LACM 187259 ) .

Range

Hawaiian Islands (present study).

Description

External morphology: Body colour light cream to pale green, with white specks throughout ( Fig. 20D). Pericardium creamy-white, irregularly shaped, located dorso-medially. Head light cream with few white specks scattered throughout; dark burgundy patch covering rhinophores, surrounding eyes. Rhinophores bifurcated, cream with small white specks scattered sparsely throughout. Oral tentacles translucent white with white specks scattered throughout. Cerata bulbous, obovate, translucent white, with web-like burgundy striations forming hexagonal patterns, white specks scattered throughout. Cerata margin covered with white specks, forming elevated clusters. Newly formed cerata translucent clear with light burgundy striations. Foot wider than body, with elongated posterior end; foot light cream to translucent white dorsally, with burgundy hue along the edges.

Internal morphology: Pharynx about 3 mm in length, buccal bulb smaller than pharyngeal pouch. Radula with 10 teeth in an 11-mm preserved length specimen (CPIC 02301); 6 teeth on descending limb (leading tooth broken), 4 teeth on ascending limb ( Fig. 25A). Teeth narrow, elongated, with small triangular, denticles spaced broadly along tooth ( Fig. 25B). Leading tooth about 600 µm in length. Size of denticles varies along radula, smaller near base, larger towards middle of the tooth, irregularly sized near tooth tip. Ascus contains about 6 used teeth ( Fig. 25C). Penial stylet deeply embedded into penis, short, cylindrical ( Fig. 22C).

Ecology

Diet unknown. Found beneath rocks.

Etymology

This species is named in honour of Lydia Liliʻu Loloku Walania Kamakaʻeha, Queen Liliʻuokalani, the last sovereign monarch of Ke Aupuni Hawaiʻi (the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi) until her overthrow by the US Government on January 17, 1893 .

Remarks

Species delimitation analyses supported Cyerce liliuokalaniae sp. nov. as a candidate species, with one method further splitting the two sequenced samples into distinct entities. Phylogenetic analyses recovered Cyerce liliuokalaniae sp. nov. sister to C. orteai from the Eastern Pacific Ocean ( Fig. 1B). Cyerce liliuokalaniae sp. nov. was distinct from C. orteai by not having tubercles throughout the cerata, rhinophores, or tentacles and by lacking the two brown spots located dorso-medially in the cerata. The thick yellow-orange band outlining the cerata margin in C. orteai was also not observed in Cyerce liliuokalaniae sp. nov. Denticles were also more densely arranged along the teeth of C. orteai compared to Cyerce liliuokalaniae sp. nov. The juvenile specimen of C. orteai described by Valdés and Camacho (2000) closely resembles C. liliuokalaniae sp. nov. However, the juvenile specimen was also described as having several tubercles covering the rhinophores and oral tentacles, whereas there are no tubercles on the rhinophores or oral tentacles of C. liliuokalaniae sp. nov. Moreover, the burgundy web-like striations on the cerata of Cyerce liliuokalaniae sp. nov. are not present in C. pavonina or C. goodheartae sp. nov. Overall, Cyerce liliuokalaniae sp. nov. is morphologically distinct from all other species of Cyerce by having white specks present over the entirety of the animal and translucent cerata with web-like burgundy striations that lack tubercles.

Clade 5