Doto maculata is a species of sea slug, a 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 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| Subclass: | Heterobranchia |
| Order: | Nudibranchia |
| Suborder: | Cladobranchia |
| Family: | Dotidae |
| Genus: | Doto |
| Species: | D. maculata
|
| Binomial name | |
| Doto maculata | |
Distribution edit
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 edit
This 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 edit
Doto maculata feeds on the hydroid Halopteris catharina, family Halopterididae.
References edit
- ^ 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.
- ^ Lemche H. (1976). New British species of Doto Oken, 1815. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 56: 691-706
- ^ Picton, B.E. & Morrow, C.C. (2015). Doto maculata (Montagu, 1804). [In] Encyclopedia of Marine Life of Britain and Ireland.