The problem of Okenia zoobotryon Smallwoold, 1910 (Gastropoda: Nudibranchia): a species complex?

• Grant number: 13/08425-0
• Support type: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Effective date (Start): July 01, 2013
• Effective date (End): June 30, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology - Taxonomy of Recent Groups
• Principal researcher: Alvaro Esteves Migotto
• Grantee: Licia Sales Oliveira
• Home Institution: Centro de Biologia Marinha (CEBIMAR). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Sebastião , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The genus OKENIA comprises only three species reported from Brazil: O. IMPEXA Marcus 1957, O. EVELINAE Marcus 1957, both with type locality in São Paulo, and O. ZOOBOTRYON (Smallwood, 1910), described for the Bermuda islands. Some authors consider the last two as synonymous, while others disagree with this standpoint. The existence of O. ZOOBOTRYON in Brazil is still uncertain, since it was mentioned only in catalogs; there has been no detailed systematic data available on it yet. In fact, O. ZOOBOTRYON is a species whose occurrence records are intriguing; it is present in the Indo-Pacific, North and South Atlantic Oceans. There are two possibilities for this unusual distribution: (1) it may be related to the distribution of the bryozoan species in which it lives in association (ZOOBOTRYON VERTICILLATUM), (2) the populations of the North Atlantic, South Atlantic, and Indo-Pacific are distinct species, (probably cryptic ones), and it was not possible to distinguish them yet due to lack of accurate taxonomic information on the specimens of these locations. In this context, this work aims: to characterize taxonomically specimens of OKENIA ZOOBOTRYON of localities of the North Atlantic, South Atlantic and Indo-Pacific, in order to find out whether they are really the same species or form a complex; redescribe OKENIA ZOOBOTRYON including internal anatomy data; and verify the range of distribution of this species along the Brazilian coast. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

SALES, LICIA; QUEIROZ, VINICIUS. Sexual dimorphism in the parasitic snail Nanobalcis worsfoldi: a histological and morphometric approach with insights for the family Eulimidae. CANADIAN JOURNAL OF ZOOLOGY, v. 99, n. 11, p. 995-1001, NOV 2021. Web of Science Citations: 0.

QUEIROZ, VINICIUS; NEVES, ELIZABETH; SALES, LICIA; JOHNSSON, RODRIGO. THE GALL-FORMER SABINELLA TROGLODYTES (CAENOGASTROPODA: EULIMIDAE) AND ITS ASSOCIATION WITH EUCIDARIS TRIBULOIDES (ECHINODERMATA: ECHINOIDEA). JOURNAL OF CONCHOLOGY, v. 42, n. 5, p. 371-377, FEB 2017. Web of Science Citations: 2.