A new species of genus Lunovula Rosenberg, 1990 (Gastropoda: Pediculariidae) from China Seas, the first pediculariid found feeding on a tree hydroid

Abstract

A new species of the genus Lunovula Rosenberg, 1990, Lunovula supingae sp. nov. feeding on deep-sea hydroid Solanderia sp. (Solanderiidae, commonly known as tree hydroid) is described and illustrated from the East China Sea and South China Sea. It is most similar to Lunovula venusta Tsuchida & Kurozumi, 1999 in general shell shape but can be distinguished from the latter by having a more elevated funiculum with two large raised teeth, higher number of labial teeth, less protruding posterior extremity, and most notably, by having an outer lip that entirely thickens to the outside. This represents the first record of a pediculariid species feeding on a hydroid other than a hydrocoral. Phylogenetic analyses based on the COI and 16S rRNA genes using Bayesian inference and maximum likelihood showed that Lunovula supingae sp. nov. falls into the family Pediculariidae, supporting the systematic placement of Lunovula in the family. Furthermore, the phylogenetic analyses recovered the Ovulidae as polyphyletic, suggesting that this family needs a further taxonomic revision.