Depth-related adaptations, speciation processes and evolution of color in the genus Phyllidiopsis (Mollusca: Nudibranchia)

Abstract.

The nudibranch genus Phyllidiopsis (Phyllidiidae) contains 30 currently recognized species, all of them distributed throughout the tropical Indo-Pacific, eastern Pacific, Northwest Atlantic and Caribbean Sea. Half of the known species of Phyllidiopsis inhabit deep waters, and most of the deep-sea species of the Phyllidiidae belong to this genus. There is no definitive explanation for the high diversity of Phyllidiopsis in the deep-sea or for whether diversity could be related to particular adaptations of this group or to historical events. In light of phylogenetic analysis, several cases of vicariance have been detected in this genus. Apparently two major vicariant events occurred between the tropical Indo-Pacific region and the Atlantic–eastern Pacific area first and subsequently between the eastern Pacific and the Atlantic. Vicariant events could also be involved in producing vertical distributional patterns in a few species of Phyllidiopsis. The scarcity of phyllidiids in the Atlantic Ocean may be explained by historical events, including isolation and subsequent extinction in shallow waters. There is a mimicry species complex in Phyllidiopsis, including several members of a clade that probably acquired this coloration through common ancestry, and also including another unrelated species that probably acquired this coloration through convergent or parallel evolution. There is also a group of white species, lacking any other contrasting colors, that inhabits deep waters. This coloration could constitute an adaptation to the deep-sea environment and not a mimicry complex. In this case, all species acquired this coloration through common ancestry.