Sympatric sibling species: the case of Caloria elegans and Facelina quatrefagesi (Gastropoda: Nudibranchia)

2016/11/22 by Giulia Furfaro, Paolo Mariottini, Maria Vittoria Modica +3 · 2 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Engineering · Environmental Science · #Marine Biology and Ecology Research #Marine Biology and Environmental Chemistry #Marine Ecology and Invasive Species

paper · pdf · doi:10.3989/scimar.04479.09a

openalex publication_date 2016/11/22 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04

Abstract

The aeolid nudibranch Caloria elegans (Facelinidae) is quite common in the Mediterranean Sea and eastern Atlantic Ocean and is easily recognized by the presence of a typical black spot at the apical portion of its cerata. Facelina quatrefagesi (Facelinidae) was long considered as a synonym of C. elegans until recently, when it was re-evaluated as a valid species based mainly on rhinophore morphology. In order to definitively assess the status of these aeolid taxa, we employed an integrative taxonomy approach using the nuclear H3 and the two mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I and 16S markers. The molecular analyses clearly showed that, although morphologically closely related to C. elegans, F. quatrefagesi is a valid species.

Citations

• Basic local alignment search tool
• MrBayes 3.2: Efficient Bayesian Phylogenetic Inference and Model Choice Across a Large Model Space
• Table 1 in A new Gammarus species from Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (China) with a key to Xinjiang freshwater gammarids (Crustacea, Amphipoda, Gammaridae)
• A test of color-based taxonomy in nudibranchs: Molecular phylogeny and species delimitation of the Felimida clenchi (Mollusca: Chromodorididae) species complex

Cited by

• Caloria elegans [wikipedia]
• Caloria quatrefagesi [wikipedia]