Investigating the amphiatlantic status of Facelina bostoniensis (Couthouy, 1838) (Nudibranchia: Aeolidida)

Abstract

ABSTRACT The aeolid species Facelina bostoniensis (Couthouy, 1838) was originally described from Massachusetts and was later reported from the Eastern Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. So far, no molecular systematic study of its amphiatlantic status has been carried out. Phylogenetic analyses (maximum likelihood and Bayesian) of DNA sequence data for the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I and 16S rRNA genes confirm the amphiatlantic status of F. bostoniensis. My findings show that this species is restricted to the Atlantic realm and that the species recorded from the Mediterranean is not F. bostoniensis but F. vicina (Bergh, 1882). It is hypothesized that previous records of F. bostoniensis from the Mediterranean Sea were actually misidentifications of F. vicina.