Doto maculata

Doto maculata is a species of sea slug, a Dendronotid nudibranch, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Dotidae.

Doto maculata
The nudibranch Doto maculata, Strangford Lough, Co. Down, Northern Ireland, UK. 3mm. in length.
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Mollusca
Class:
Gastropoda
(unranked):
clade Heterobranchia
clade Euthyneura
clade Nudipleura
clade Nudibranchia
clade Dexiarchia
clade Cladobranchia
clade Dendronotida
Superfamily:
Tritonioidea
Family:
Dotidae
Genus:
Doto
Species:
D. maculata
Binomial name
Doto maculata
Montagu, 1804 [1]

Distribution

This species was first described from Devon, United Kingdom. It was re-described and separated from synonymy with Doto coronata by Lemche in 1976.[2]

Description

This dendronotid nudibranch is translucent white with dark red spots on the ceratal tubercles. It is one of the smaller representatives of the Doto coronata group of species. One of its most distinctive features is the length of the tubercles on the cerata.[3]

Ecology

Doto maculata feeds on the hydroid Halopteris catharina, family Halopterididae.

References
  1. Montagu G. (1804). Description of several marine animals found on the south coast of Devonshire. Transactions of the Linnean Society, London, 7, pp. 61-85;pls. 6-7.
  2. Lemche H. (1976). New British species of Doto Oken, 1815. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 56: 691-706
  3. Picton, B.E. & Morrow, C.C. (2015). Doto maculata (Montagu, 1804). [In] Encyclopedia of Marine Life of Britain and Ireland.
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