A rare new species of Corambe Bergh, 1869 (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Nudibranchia) from the Caribbean Sea, with a review of the taxonomical history of the Corambidae Bergh, 1871

Abstract

The taxonomic history of the family Corambidae Bergh, 1871 is extremely complex, in part due to the rarity of some of the taxa within the family, but also because of their unusual morphology. Some species, particularly in the Atlantic, seem to be very rare, while others are abundant, widely distributed, and having large lists of synonyms. Corambe obscura (A. E. Verril, 1870) is one of these species that has been considered to have many synonyms, which conferred it a vast range of distribution. The recent re-capture and reinstatement of Corambe carambola (Marcus, 1955) meant a severe restriction of the distribution of C. obscura and a reminder that a lot of questions are still to be answered regarding the Atlantic species of the genus. In this work, a rare species of Corambe Bergh, 1869 is described using a single specimen from Guadeloupe, Caribbean Sea. Corambe osculabundus Ortea & Caballer sp. nov. was collected during the expedition KARUBENTHOS coordinated by the Museum national d’Histoire naturelle, in Paris. It is characterized by a pattern of red lipstick-shaped stains that cover the mantle, hemispherical spiculous tubercles, a posterior notch on the mantle, rhinophores with anterolateral expansions, a dorsal buccal pump, 14 gill leafs (central gill leaf absent), and a radular formula 42 × 1.1-2P.2.1.0.1.2.1-2P.1., with one or two smooth plates interspersed before the outermost lateral teeth. The taxonomic history of the nudibranch family Corambidae is synthesized in an attempt to assess the identity of potential rare species that may have been synonymized in the absence of fresh material.