136 
THE CORAL TRIANGLE: HEARST BIODIVERSITY EXPEDITION 
length with part of the “tail” missing. CASIZ 185954, one specimen, dissected. Cemetery Beach, 
Maricaban Island, Batangas Province, Luzon, Philippines, collected May 19, 2011 by Ditto de la 
Rosa, preserved specimen 9.0 mm length with part of the “tail” missing. CASIZ 191207, one spec¬ 
imen, Sek Island, Madang Province, Papua New Guinea, collected November 14, 2012 by Vanes¬ 
sa Knutson, preserved specimen 6.0 mm length with part of the “tail” missing. CASIZ 191461, one 
specimen, 6m depth. Lighthouse Point, Madang Province, Papua New Guinea, collected at night, 
November 28, 2012 by Anthony Berberian, preserved specimen 6.0 mm length with part of the 
“tail” missing. CASIZ 191294, two specimens, near Madang Resort, Madang Province, Papua 
New Guinea, 5°12'27.63"S 145°4832.45"E, collected at night November 17, 2012 by Vanessa 
Knutson, preserved specimen “A” 5.2 mm length with part of the “tail” missing, preserved speci¬ 
men “B” 3.5 mm length. CASIZ 191397, one specimen, Madang Province, Papua New Guinea, 
5°12T.08"S 145°48'45.66"E, collected at night, November 22, 2012 by Vanessa Knutson, pre¬ 
served specimen 5.0 mm length. CASIZ 191477, one specimen. Tab Island, Madang Province, 
Papua New Guinea, collected November 30, 2012, by Vanessa Knutson, preserved specimen 1.7 
mm length. CASIZ 191094, one specimen, Kranket Fish Market Cove, near Madang Resort, 
Madang Province, Papua New Guinea, 5°12'28.4148"S, 145°4831.9896"E, collected at night, 
November 9,2012 by Anthony Berberian, preserved specimen 5.0 mm length with part of the “tail” 
missing. CASIZ 191518, one specimen, dissected, 1.5 m depth, SW Kranket Island, Madang 
Province, Papua New Guinea, collected on December 4, 2012 by T.M. Gosliner, preserved speci¬ 
men 8.0 mm length with part of the “tail” missing. 
Etymology.— This species is named for the tubercles covering its body. 
DiSTRrouTiON. — This species has been found in Papua New Guinea, the Philippines and doc¬ 
umented from the Marshall Islands (Gosliner et al. 2008). There is also a photo on the Nudipixel 
website showing this species from Raja Ampat, Indonesia. 
External morphology.— The length of the preserved specimens varies from 1.6 mm to 
11.0 mm. Some ofthese were subsampled for DNA analysis prior to measurement (CASIZ 177268, 
CASIZ 185954, CASIZ 191207, CASIZ 191461, CASIZ 191294A, CASIZ 191094, CASIZ 
191518). The living animals (Fig. 1C, D) are uniformly translucent white in color and covered in 
small, rounded tubercles. While these tubercles are obvious in the living animal, they are not 
always apparent in preserved specimens, depending on the method of preservation. The tubercles 
seem to preserve well when fixed with Bouin’s solution, but not always when fixed with alcohol. 
The internal organs can be seen through the translucent skin. The color of the digestive gland varies 
and has been observed as bright orange to pink to brown, perhaps due to the diet of the animal. 
The rhinophores are lamellate with between 8 and 13 lamellae and range in color fi-om translu¬ 
cent white to cream or pale yellow. The gill branches are the same color as the body of the animal 
and consist of approximately 9-13 main branches arranged in a complete circle with the anus locat¬ 
ed at the center. They are located close to the 
center of the length of the animal in the poste¬ 
rior half of the body. In preserved specimens, 
the gill may appear to be in the posterior third 
of the body. The genital opening (Fig 5) is 
located on the right side of the animal approx¬ 
imately one third of the length of the distance 
between the back of the rhinophores to the 
gills. There is a deep groove in the anterior 
portion of the foot, ventral to the mouth. 
The specimens examined have spicules 
Figure 5. Gymnodoris tuberculosa sp. nov. arrangement 
and position of subcutaneous glands in preserved specimen, 
CASIZ 086418. Abbreviations: g, gills; go, genital opening; 
r, rhinophores; sg, subcutaneous glands. 
