Discodorididae, sensu Valdes, 2002

Systematics of Discodorididae View in CoL

Within the Discodorididae , some genera were recovered monophyletic in our analyses, i.e. Asteronotus , Avaldesia , Geitodoris , Halgerda Bergh, 1880 , Hoplodoris , Paradoris , and Platodoris , yet some others were not. For example, the genus Atagema was recovered monophyletic with the caveat that it also includes the South American species Diaulula hispida . However , as Valdés and Muniain (2002) indicated, Dia. hispida is characterized by having a dorsal longitudinal ridge, which is unique to members of the genus Atagema . Tis, together with our molecular evidence, leads us to propose Atagema hispida comb. rest. . Additional species traditionally assigned to Diaulula appear in separate clades, suggesting this group needs reassessment. Te type species Dia. sandiegensis was included in a well-supported clade containing Dia. punctuolata . Tis clade needs further data and sequences from additional species of Diaulula , but if the name Diaulula is restricted to the clade containing the type species, other species previously assigned to Diaulula , such as Dia . greeleoi and Dia . naoarita, need a new generic placement.