Geitodoris portmanni

Geitodoris portmanni (Schmekel, 1972)

Geitodoris portmanni @ Costa Brava by Enric Madrenas

Taxonomy

	Superdomain	Biota
	Kingdom	Animalia
	Phylum	Mollusca
	Class	Gastropoda
	Subclass	Heterobranchia
	Infraclass	Euthyneura
	Subterclass	Ringipleura
	Superorder	Nudipleura
	Order	Nudibranchia
	Suborder	Doridina
	Infraorder	Doridoidei
	Superfamily	Doridoidea
	Family	Discodorididae
	Genus	Geitodoris
	Species	Geitodoris portmanni (Schmekel, 1972)

	Classification according to Bouchet et al. (2017) Taxonomic source: World Register of Marine Species (AphiaID: 139581).

Synonyms

Carryodoris portmanni Schmekel, 1972

Description
This is a doridacean with a very flattened body and a leathery and spongy texture, reaching 15-20 mm in length. Its color ranges from bright yellowish, dull yellow or even slightly reddish, the middle of the dorsum could be somewhat darker because of the internal viscera. On the dorsum there can be small whitish scores on the tips of some tubercles. There may also be small brown spots at the glandular openings. The mantle is wide and there are numerous, well spaced, small conical tubercles with rounded apex on the dorsum. The spongy texture of the back of the animal is because of a fine grid of light-colored spicules that seem to converge in tubercles in a starry way; binocular microscope allows to see that the stellate reticulum also invades the tubers, converging towards their apexes. The rhinophores base color is pale, the base is yellowish and the laminar portion (with 14-15 lamellae) scattered with brown grains, their apex is mace-shaped and white. The rhinophores are spiculous. The rhinophoric sheath is high and its upper edge has about 11-15 somewhat irregular whitish tubercles that fold together when the rhinophores are fully retracted, closing the sheath orifice. The gill consists of about 6 yellowish tripinnate leaves with brown spots on the central rachis. Gill sheath is rather high and its upper edge is scalloped. The gill leaves head backwards when extended. The foot is yellow and without spots while the sides of the body have very thin brown markings. The foot is lined and cleft on the anterior side and the oral tentacles are well developed.

Biology
Very little is known of this rare species of nudibranch, it is commonly found below stones from a few meters of water down to 40 m (Schmekel & Portmann, 1982). It has also been reported on the Bryopsis algae at 27 m deep (Marin & ros, 1987).

Etymology

Geitodoris. From Greek “geitonos”, neighbor (meaning close or similar) + “Doris”, in Greek mythology, the wife of Nereus, a sea nymph and mother of the Nereids.
Portmanni. Dedicated to the Swiss zoologist Prof. Adolf Portmann, (1897-1982), who worked on Mediterranean nudibranchs, coauthor of the book “Opisthobranchia des Mittelmeeres”.

Distribution
There are very few known reports of this rare species. Originally described by Marechiaro in the Gulf of Naples, it has only been found in the Mediterranean coast of the Iberian Peninsula (Cervera et al. 2004). In Catalonia it has been observed in a few locations of the Costa Brava: L’Estartit, L’Escala, El Port de la Selva or Cadaqués.

Known georeferenced records of the species: Geitodoris portmanni
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 Geitodoris portmanni based on our own records.

More pictures

Bibliography

Steve Long, 2006

Bibliography of Opisthobranchia 1554-2000

Gary McDonald, 2009

Bibliographia Nudibranchia

Further reading

Cite this article as:

Ballesteros, M., Madrenas, E. & Pontes, M. (2023) "Geitodoris portmanni" in OPK-Opistobranquis. Published: 11/09/2014. Accessed: 30/03/2023. Available at (https://opistobranquis.info/en/JOJWk)

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Geitodoris portmanni