Natural History Museum
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Abstract. A new species of Peronia is described from Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia: Peronia watts, new
species. Evidence for a new species comes from mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences as well as comparative
anatomy. Specimens of Peronia watts, new species, cluster together in a reciprocally monophyletic unit separated
by a large gap in genetic distances. Peronia watts, new species, is also characterised by unique anatomical traits:
it is the only Peronia species known to secrete an abundant, sticky mucus when handled, its radula contains up
to 150 teeth per half row (which is unusually high), and the retractor muscle of its copulatory organ does not
seem to insert anywhere in the visceral cavity. Peronia watts, new species, is only abundant locally, in its specific
habitat (large moist claystone boulders in small rocky coves). It is currently endemic to Darwin Harbour, but
its geographic distribution may be shown to be larger in the future. The present description shows the critical
importance of taxonomic revisions because discovering this new species would have been impossible without the
recent revision of Peronia.
Key words. biodiversity, Coral Triangle, Indo-West Pacific, integrative taxonomy, Southeast Asia
Read article here: RBZ-2025-0008
