A putative hybrid sea turtle juvenile was evaluated with discriminant DNA markers. When compared with standard values for sea turtles, the general morphological features assigned the specimen to Caretta caretta, while the shape and coloration of the head and the beak profile fell within the Eretmochelys imbricata range; the front flippers were instead like those of a Chelonia mydas. Moreover, prefrontal scale number was outside the putative parental species’ ranges. The mitochondrial D-loop sequence was from C. caretta, and matched haplotype CC-A2.1, the most common in the Mediterranean. Sequence profiles at three nuclear loci withspecies-specific substitutions (Cmos, BDNF and R35) revealed only C. caretta variants, thus excluding that the individual wasan F1 hybrid. This study highlights the importance of integrating different methodological approaches to understand reproductive animal biology and to set the boundaries for specific morphological traits. In particular, we propose the genetic analysis of a new combination of mitochondrial and nuclear markers as a standard procedure which can be adopted in the identification of sea turtlehybrids.

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We reviewed the subgenus Daphaenisca Kiriakoff, 1953 created for the single species Pseudapiconoma daphaena Hampson, 1898, in order to separate it from the other species included in the genus Pseudapiconoma Aurivillius, 1881. However, Kiriakoff's diagnosis was entirely based on the differences in the shape of the uncus among the subgenera Daphaenisca, Pseudapiconoma and Balacra Hampson, 1914. This study provides new, more accurate descriptions of the group, taking into account the differential characters and possible synapomorphies within the subgenus Daphaenisca. Our findings are supported by three new species recently discovered in Gabon and Ghana, belonging to the subgenus Daphaenisca: Balacra (Daphaenisca) inexpectata sp. n.; Balacra (Daphaenisca) magnoloi sp. n.; Balacra (Daphaenisca) flava sp. n.