The systematics of the genus Aplysia (Mollusca: Heterobranchia) in the Eastern Pacific

Mendivil A.; Camacho-García Y.; Morin J.; Cardoso F.; Martin M.D.; Ramírez R.; Valdés Á. · Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society (2026) · DOI: 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlag078

Resumen

Although the genus Aplysia has been the focus of numerous taxonomic, ecological, and physiological studies, its systematics remains poorly understood in many parts of the world due to ontogenetic variability and high phenotypic plasticity. One region in critical need of taxonomic revision is the Eastern Pacific, where more than 10 species have been described, several known only from their original descriptions and others corresponding to widespread taxa such as Aplysia dactylomela and Aplysia juliana introduced without proper comparative analyses. Here, we use mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequence markers, mitochondrial genomes, morphological characters, and re-examination of type material, to explore the systematics of Aplysia in the Eastern Pacific. These analyses support the presence of six distinct valid species in the region: Aplysia californica and Aplysia vaccaria from California and the Gulf of California, Aplysia lessonii from Mexico to Peru, Aplysia nigra from Peru and the Galapagos Islands, Aplysia hooveri from the Tropical Eastern Pacific, and Aplysia juanina from the Juan Fernandez Archipelago in Chile. © The Author(s) 2026. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Linnean Society of London. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Instituciones: Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos