RESEARCH ARTICLE Genetic structure of the grey side-gilled sea slug (Pleurobranchaea maculata) in coastal waters of New Zealand Yeşerin Yõldõrõm1¤*, Marti J. Anderson1,2, Bengt Hansson3, Selina Patel4, Craig D. Millar4, Paul B. Rainey1,5,6 1 New Zealand Institute for Advanced Study, Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand, 2 Institute of Natural and Mathematical Sciences, Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand, 3 Department of Biology, a1111111111 Lund University, Lund, Sweden, 4 School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland, New a1111111111 Zealand, 5 Department of Microbial Population Biology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology, PloÈn, a1111111111 Germany, 6 Ecole SupeÂrieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles de la Ville de Paris (ESPCI ParisTech), a1111111111 CNRS UMR 8231, PSL Research University, Paris, France a1111111111 ¤ Current address: Center for Ecology and Evolution in Microbial Systems (EEMiS), Department of Biology and Environmental Science, Linnaeus University, Kalmar, Sweden *
[email protected] OPEN ACCESS Abstract Citation: Yõldõrõm Y, Anderson MJ, Hansson B, Patel S, Millar CD, Rainey PB (2018) Genetic Pleurobranchaea maculata is a rarely studied species of the Heterobranchia found through- structure of the grey side-gilled sea slug out the south and western Pacific±and recently recorded in Argentina±whose population (Pleurobranchaea maculata) in coastal waters of genetic structure is unknown. Interest in the species was sparked in New Zealand following New Zealand. PLoS ONE 13(8): e0202197. https:// doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0202197 a series of dog deaths caused by ingestions of slugs containing high levels of the neurotoxin tetrodotoxin. Here we describe the genetic structure and demographic history of P.