Description of a new species of Pseudobornella Baba, 1932 (Gastropoda, Nudibranchia, Dendronotidae) from the Yellow Sea.

Abstract

The genus Pseudobornella Baba, 1932 (Gastropoda, Nudibranchia, Dendronotidae), which was previously thought to be monotypic and restricted to the Western Pacific, is here expanded with the description of a second species, Pseudobornellaqingdaoensis sp. nov., discovered in the Yellow Sea, China. The new species is similar in general body shape to its sole congener, P.orientalis Baba, 1932, but these species can be distinguished based on both external morphology and internal anatomy. Phylogenetic analyses reconstructed by Bayesian inference and maximum-likelihood methods using concatenated mitochondrial (COI, 16S rRNA) and nuclear (H3) genes and species delimitation analyses support the monophyly of Pseudobornella as well as the separation of the two known species.