Morphological description and mitochondrial DNA-based phylogenetic placement of a new species of Callistoctopus Taki, 1964 (Cephalopoda, Octopodidae) from the southeast waters of China.

ABSTRACT: In this study, we described a new species of octopus and named it Callistoctopusxiaohongxu sp. nov. based on nine specimens captured in the waters of southeast China. Callistoctopusxiaohongxu sp. nov. is a small to moderate-sized octopus. The most characteristic and defining morphological features are the reddish-orange to reddish-brown skin, gills with 8 or 9 lamellae per demibranch, \∧/-shaped funnel organ, and small suckers. Fragments obtained from the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene of nine specimens were 593 bp in length, and the genetic distance among the specimens of C.xiaohongxu sp. nov. and the other 16 octopods ranged from 11.13 to 21.09%. Topologies resulting from ML and BI analyses of the COI gene showed a highly

SUBMITTER: Zheng X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9848676 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature