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The Chromodorididae family tree has been refined in recent years via molecular phylogenetic analyses which have clarified many relationships between taxa. The genus Goniobranchus is one clade within Chromodorididae that was previously included within the genus Chromodoris. However, based on recent molecular phylogenetic results, Chromodoris was determined to be non-monophyletic and Goniobranchus was resurrected. In this study, we performed molecular and morphological analyses to resolve the internal relationships among Goniobranchus species, specifically the red-reticulate species complex of three previously described species, Goniobranchus tinctorius, G. reticulatus, and G. alderi, which display a red network of lines over a white mantle and are widely distributed across the Indo-Pacific Ocean. We sequenced two mitochondrial genes (COI and 16S) and one nuclear gene (H3) for 339 Goniobranchus specimens, and in our phylogenetic analyses the red-reticulate species group emerged as a monophyly. This current work has indicated there are at least eleven distinct species within this species complex, including the only three previously described species and another described species, G. splendidus, was added to this clade. The molecular data and the morphological differences among species will be discussed, and we present a possible way forward to clarify the taxonomy of the red-reticulate species complex. 

Expeditionary field work still remains the most fundamental tool to discover novel species and repetitive sampling in high diversity portions of the Indo-Pacific tropics continues to provide large numbers of previously undocumented taxa. Multidisciplinary collaborative teams and large expeditions are an immense source of novel biodiversity. Micro-scale temporal changes in diverse ecosystems provide a catalyst for new species discovery, as well as insights into the discovery of patterns of trophic and symbiotic divergence. Additionally, phylogenetic analyses of large samples of diverse taxa across geographical gradients have increasingly detected cryptic and pseudo-cryptic species complexes that have dramatically altered our view of species richness. Aposematic and extreme camouflaged colour patterns within the context of fish predatory behaviour provides an evolutionary framework for divergence and convergence of colour patterns. Similarly, recent studies of temperate nudibranch assemblages in temperate waters in Europe, southern Africa and the Pacific coast of North America also demonstrate previously undetected diversity and the presence of colour patterns that likely reflect similarity derived from both common ancestry and convergence. Combining these approaches has documented astonishingly high levels of previously undetected diversity, has huge implications to our knowledge of global biodiversity with a likely 3-5x increase in global species richness, and has developed more appropriate regenerative conservation strategies.