Home Guide to Opisthobranchs Nudibranchia Cladobranchia Dendronotoidea Doto pita

Doto pita

Doto pita Er. Marcus, 1955

Doto pita on hydroid @ Puerto del Carmen, Lanzarote, Spain by Dennis Rabeling

Taxonomy
 

Superdomain

Biota  

 

Kingdom

Animalia  

 

Phylum

Mollusca  

 

Class

Gastropoda  

 

Subclass

Heterobranchia  

 

Infraclass

Euthyneura  

 

Subterclass

Ringipleura  

 

Superorder

Nudipleura  

 

Order

Nudibranchia  

 

Suborder

Cladobranchia  

 

Superfamily

Dendronotoidea  

 

Family

Dotidae  

 

Genus

Doto  

 

Species

Doto pita  Er. Marcus, 1955

 
 Classification according to Bouchet et al. (2017)
Taxonomic source: World Register of Marine Species (AphiaID: 532765).
Description
Body up to 7 mm. long. The colour of body and cerata is yellowish gray beneath a translucent white epidermis, with brownish spots on the back (missing in some NE Atlantic specimens) and some white spot on the head and cardiac area. The clubs of the rhinophores are smooth, with the base stained in red in Western Atlantic older specimens (but not in Eastern Atlantic ones) and with white spots to the tip. Funnel-shaped, tight and short rhinophoric sheaths whose margin is even and coloured white because of white spots accumulation, Eastern Atlantic specimens have the inside of the sheath pigmented in red continuing the dorsal pigmentation. Cerata along the dorsal margins are setup in similar sized 3-4 pairs, and another less developed pair closer to the tail. No distinct branchial thickenings at the base of cerata. Cerata shape is somewhat jaggy, the greatest width lies above the middle, with a conical tip. Each cera bears a few irregularly scattered, bluntly angled, small conical tubercles that do not form circlets, with characteristic small white spheres inside. Digestive gland inside the cerata may vary from white to cream-orange. The foot is narrow and ends in a pointed tail. The cephalic velum has very reduced lobes. Gonopore located below first right cera, anus right behind but in dorsal position, showing a cylindric anal papilla.

Biology
Often found on Padina and Galaxaura sea weeds in the Atlantic coasts of America, found on hydrarians in the Canary Islands. The egg spawn is laid along the stolons of the Sertulariids it feeds on, shaped as a thin cord of white eggs laid in spiral on the hydrozoa.

Etymology

  • Doto, from Latin Doto, a sea nymph, from Greek Dōtō.
  • Pita. Marcus was not prone to explain the origin of the species he described. However, pita is a fiber obtained from the plant Agave americana and other similar species, used for making cordage and paper.

Distribution
Described at Island of São Sebastião, Brazil (Marcus, 1955); Ilhabela, Brazil (Marcus, 1957); Frigate Bay, St. Kitts (Marcus & Marcus, 1963); Virginia Key, Miami, Florida (Marcus & Marcus, 1963). Also from Madeira (Wirtz, 1999) and the Canary Islands (Ortea et al., 1999). Records from Japan (Baba, 1971) and Australia (GBIF) probably correspond to a similar but distinct species because D. pita is only known from the Atlantic.

Known georeferenced records of the species: Doto pita
Sources:
: OBIS
: GROC 2010-2011
: Enric Madrenas
: João Pedro Silva
: Bernard Picton
: GBIF.ORG		 : OPK
: VIMAR
: Manuel Ballesteros.
: M@re Nostrum
: Altres fonts
: Marine Regions

Abundance

    Western Mediterranean: ☆☆☆☆☆
    Eastern Mediterranean: ☆☆☆☆☆
    Atlantic Ocean: ★☆☆☆☆
Month

This chart displays the monthly observation probability for Doto pita based on our own records.

More pictures

Doto pita on hydroid @ Puerto del Carmen, Lanzarote, Spain by Dennis Rabeling
Doto pita and cerata detail. Reproduced from Er.Marcus (1955)
Doto pita egg spawn @ Puerto del Carmen, Lanzarote, Spain by Dennis Rabeling
Doto pita from Cuba. B,C rhinophores Cuba specimens; D rhinophore Canary Islands specimen. Reproduced from Ortea et al (1999)
Doto pita on hydroid @ Puerto del Carmen, Lanzarote, Spain by Dennis Rabeling
Doto pita on hydroid @ Puerto del Carmen, Lanzarote, Spain by Dennis Rabeling
Doto pita on hydroid @ Puerto del Carmen, Lanzarote, Spain by Dennis Rabeling
Doto pita on hydroid @ Puerto del Carmen, Lanzarote, Spain by Dennis Rabeling
Doto pita on hydroid @ Puerto del Carmen, Lanzarote, Spain by Dennis Rabeling
Doto pita reproduced from Er.Marcus (1955)b
Doto pita ventral view. Reproduced from Edmunds & Just (1985)
Doto pita with egg spawn @ Puerto del Carmen, Lanzarote, Spain by Dennis Rabeling
Doto pita with egg spawn @ Puerto del Carmen, Lanzarote, Spain by Dennis Rabeling
Doto pita, Canary Islands specimen. Reproduced from Ortea et al (1999)

Bibliography

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    Baba K. 1971. Anatomical studies on three species of Doto (D. bella, D. japonica and D. pita) from Japan (Nudibranchia: Dendronotoidea: Dotoidae). Publications of the Seto Marine Biological Laboratory 19(2/3):73-79, pls. 4-5.
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    Bibliography based on the works by Steve Long, 2006. Bibliography of Opisthobranchia 1554-2000 and Gary McDonald, 2009. Bibliographia Nudibranchia, with later updates from other resources.

Further reading

Cite this article as:

Pontes, Miquel (2012-2025) "Doto pita" in OPK-Opistobranquis. Published: 06/03/2021. Accessed: 03/02/2025. Available at (https://opistobranquis.info/en/?p=31796)