Doto floridicola
Simroth, 1888

Order: NUDIBRANCHIA
Suborder: DENDRONOTINA
Family: Dotidae

DISTRIBUTION

Azores, Mediterranean.

PHOTO

Cerbere, France [Mediterranean coast]. July 03, 2002. Length: 7-8mm. Photo: Marina Poddubetskaia

The rhinophores are smooth and slender and the rhinophore sheaths are only slightly expanded at the top. The cerata are elongate and inflated with two rows of tubercles and a larger rounded one at the tip. The background colour of the body is a dull yellow. The tips of the tubercles are covered with a dull red spot and their are similarly coloured small spots on the oral veil, and forming a median band dwon the dorsum and on the sides of the body. The red pigmentation is absent from the base of the cerata and between the cerata. The rhinophores are translucent clear with two opaque white lines, one down the posterior side and one down the anterior. In some cases the red pigmentation is replaced by brown. Grows to about 10mm. This species has some similarities to Doto paulinae Trinchese, 1881, but the most distincrtive difference is that in that species the terminal ceratal tubercle is white not red.

Originally described from the Azores, it has subsequently been recorded from various places in the western Mediterranean, and as far east as the Aegean Sea.

References:
• Schmekel, L. & Kress, A (1977) Die Gattung Doto (Gastropoda: Nudibranchia) im Mittelmeer und Armelkanal, mit beschreibung von Doto acuta n. sp. Malacologia, 16(2): 467-499.
• Schmekel, L. & Portmann, A (1982) Opisthobranchia des Mittelmeeres, Nudibranchia und Saccoglossa. Fauna e Flora del Golfo Napoli, 40: 1-410. Springer-Verlag: Berlin
• Thompson, T.E., Cattaneo, R. & Wong, Y.M. (1990). Eastern Mediterranean opisthobranchia: Dotidae (Dendronotoidea), Arminidae and Madrellidae (Arminoidea). Journal of Molluscan Research, 56: 393-413

Authorship details
Rudman, W.B., 2002 (July 25) Doto floridicola Simroth, 1888. [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet/dotoflor

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