An integrative description of a new interstitial species of Boninia (Platyhelminthes, Polycladida) from the South China Sea

By

Liu, Hailong
He, Bing-Bing
Wang, An-Tai
Li, Shuang-Fei
Zhang, Yu

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2026-1-9

Original Publication

Zoosystematics and evolution

Volume

102

Series / Issue

Issue: 1

Pages

97--105

Subjects

Cotylea , DNA taxonomy , interstitial , marine flatworm , molecular phylogeny

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia Pensoft

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zse.102.175615

 

Abstract

<br> Some members of the genus<br> Boninia<br> are interstitial flatworms that have attracted research attention owing to their miniaturized body size and ecological significance. Here, we establish a new interstitial species of this genus,<br> Boninia corolla<br> sp. nov.<br> , collected from a coarse-grained sandy beach in Huidong, China. The new species is characterized by (i) a narrow and slender body; (ii) 9–15 prostatoid organs with stylets arranged into a single girdle; and (iii) uterine canals connecting to the vagina immediately anterior to the entrance of Lang’s vesicle. Results from both Bayesian Poisson Tree Process (bPTP) and Automatic Barcode Gap Discovery (ABGD) analyses support<br> B. corolla<br> sp. nov.<br> as a distinct species. Molecular phylogenetic analyses based on four gene markers (18S, 28S, 16S, and COI) showed that the new species is nested within a clade composed of other<br> Boninia<br> species. We also calculated genetic distances between species based on the 28S, 16S, and COI markers and found that COI represents the most suitable DNA barcode for distinguishing species within the genus.<br>