{"id":452,"date":"2012-05-16T18:48:35","date_gmt":"2012-05-16T16:48:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/opistobranquis.info\/dendronotacis-dendronotidadendronot%c3%a1ceos-dendronotidadendronotaceans-dendronotida"},"modified":"2025-10-29T16:05:24","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T15:05:24","slug":"dendronotoidea","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/opistobranquis.info\/en\/guia\/nudibranchia\/dendronotoidea\/","title":{"rendered":"Dendronotoidea"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dendronotaceans have a long and narrow body and have a row of branched or tuberculate processes on each side of the body, in dorsolateral position. The rhinophores can be smooth or have lamellae but their base is always surrounded by a high sheath, into which they can be retracted. Head may differentiate either rounded lateral expansions or a face veil with several digitations. The anus and the genital openings are located to the right of the body.<\/p>\n

\"Doto<\/div>
Doto rosea 3mm<\/em> by Enric Madrenas<\/center><\/span>

<\/p><\/h5>\n

They feed primarily on cnidarians, such as hydroid colonies, soft corals and gorgonians. Species of the family Tethydidae, however, tend to eat small crustaceans such as amphipods, copepods, isopods and ostracods. Within this family, a big sizes species, Tethys fimbria<\/em>, has a wider food spectrum as it has been cited feeding on small echinoderms, gastropods, polychaetes and small fish. Most dendronotacean are benthic but some species can swim by undulating movements of the body; species of the family Phylliroidae are pelagic and prey on jellyfish and siphonophores.<\/p>\n

Classification<\/strong><\/p>\n

W\u00e4gele & Willan (2000) concluded that the Dendronotida\u00a0<\/span>(including Tritonioidea and Dendronotoidea) are monophyletic,\u00a0but Martin et al. (2009, 2010) and Goodheart (2017) obtained different results. Already Healy & Willan (1991) identified wide variations in sperm morphology that they questioned its monophyly.<\/p>\n

Although the family Dotidae is consistently excluded from the Dendronotida in morphocladistic analyses (W\u00e4gele & Willan, 2000), Doto<\/em> and Hancockia<\/em> cluster with Dendronotus<\/em> and Scyllaea<\/em> in the molecular phylogeny of Mahguib & Vald\u00e9s (2015), which supports the recovery of Doto<\/em> as sister to a clade of Melibe<\/em> and Dendronotus<\/em> (Goodheart, 2017).<\/p>\n

The relationship of Hancockiidae to other Cladobranchia was unresolved in morphocladistic (Martin et al., 2009) and multilocus approaches (Pola & Gosliner, 2010). They were included in Dendronotoidea by Bouchet et al. (2017)\u00a0based on the tree of Mahguib & Vald\u00e9s (2015). Similarly, the relationship of Tethys<\/em> to other Cladobranchia was unresolved in multilocus phylogeny of Pola & Gosliner (2010), but resulted sister to Dendronotus<\/em> in the phylogenomic study by Goodheart et al. (2015) and Goodheart (2017).<\/p>\n

Actual classification of the Dendronotaceans as proposed by Bouchet et al.(2017) and accepted at WoRMS is:<\/p>\n

Dendronotoidea Allman, 1845<\/strong><\/p>\n