Description
The majority of known acochlidian sea slug species are marine mesopsammic, while some others are limnic. The structural, functional and evolutionary background of the invasion of freshwater systems was hardly explored. During the expedition SANTO 2006 to Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu, we discovered a unique new acochlidian species in a brackish water habitat. Pseudunela espiritusanta n. sp. inhabits the underside of intertidal rocks deeply embedded into coarse sand, the interstices of which are filled with a mixture of fresh subsoil and seawater.
This new species possesses a typical acochlidian central nervous and digestive system; it is a simultaneous hermaphrodite with a special androdiaulic reproductive system and complex, stylet-bearing copulatory organs with associated glands. Such penial features may indicate a relationship with marine mesopsammic Pseudunela (Pseudunelidae) species, while e.g., the larger body size, the broad foot, and the presence of a special ventricular cell layer may be potential synapomorphies with limnic, benthic Acochlidiidae (Strubellia and Acochlidiidae s.s.).
Pseudunela espiritusanta n. sp. shares its special shape of head tentacles with both Pseudunela and Strubellia, while other characters are potentially synapomorphic with either one or the other taxon. Regardless of its unresolved exact systematic position, Pseudunela espiritusanta n. sp. evidently links marine and limnic taxa by its intermediate ecological and morphological features. Its considerable body size and well-developed heart and kidney can be considered as preadaptations to overcome osmotic challenges when colonising rivers from brackish coastal sands.
Data Records
The data in this occurrence resource has been published as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A), which is a standardized format for sharing biodiversity data as a set of one or more data tables. The core data table contains 6 records.
This IPT archives the data and thus serves as the data repository. The data and resource metadata are available for download in the downloads section. The versions table lists other versions of the resource that have been made publicly available and allows tracking changes made to the resource over time.
Versions
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How to cite
Researchers should cite this work as follows:
Neusser T P, Schrödl M (2022): Between Vanuatu tides: a new brackish water acochlidian gastropod from Espiritu Santo. v1.1. Southwestern Pacific Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) Node. Dataset/Occurrence. https://nzobisipt.niwa.co.nz/resource?r=pseudunelaespiritusanta&v=1.1
Rights
Researchers should respect the following rights statement:
The publisher and rights holder of this work is Southwestern Pacific Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) Node. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY 4.0) License.
GBIF Registration
This resource has been registered with GBIF, and assigned the following GBIF UUID: 650faeeb-5459-4495-9c12-5cf6a1e62bc0. Southwestern Pacific Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) Node publishes this resource, and is itself registered in GBIF as a data publisher endorsed by Ocean Biodiversity Information System.
Keywords
Occurrence; Specimen
Contacts
- Metadata Provider ●
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- Point Of Contact
- Originator
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Geographic Coverage
Espiritu Santo Island, Vanuatu
| Bounding Coordinates | South West [-15.516, 167.198], North East [-15.516, 167.198] |
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Taxonomic Coverage
Brackish water acochlidian gastropod
| Species | Pseudunela espiritusanta |
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Bibliographic Citations
- Neusser, Timea P., Schrödl, Michael (2009): Between Vanuatu tides: 3D anatomical reconstruction of a new brackish water acochlidian gastropod from Espiritu Santo. Zoosystema 31 (3): 453-469, DOI: 10.5252/z2009n3a4, URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.5252/z2009n3a4 DOI: 10.5252/z2009n3a4
Additional Metadata
marine, harvested by iOBIS
| Alternative Identifiers | 650faeeb-5459-4495-9c12-5cf6a1e62bc0 |
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| https://nzobisipt.niwa.co.nz/resource?r=pseudunelaespiritusanta |