Doriopsilla albopunctata
| Doriopsilla albopunctata | |
|---|---|
 | |
| A live Doriopsilla albopunctata | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| (unranked): | clade Heterobranchia clade Euthyneura clade Nudipleura clade Nudibranchia clade Euctenidiacea clade Doridacea |
| Superfamily: | Phyllidioidea |
| Family: | Dendrodorididae |
| Genus: | Doriopsilla |
| Species: | D. albopunctata |
| Binomial name | |
| Doriopsilla albopunctata (Cooper, 1863) | |
Doriopsilla albopunctata is a species of dorid nudibranch, a colourful sea slug, a shell-less marine gastropod mollusk in the family Dendrodorididae.[1]
There are five other species that are quite similar to this species and can be confused with it, and they are: Doriopsilla bertschi (Hoover, Lindsay, Goddard & Valdés, 2015), Doriopsilla davebehrensi (Hoover, Lindsay, Goddard & Valdés, 2015), Doriopsilla fulva (MacFarland, 1905), Doriopsilla gemela (Gosliner, Schaefer & Millen, 1999) and Baptodoris mimetica (Gosliner, 1991).[2]
Distribution
This species is found from Mendocino to San Diego, California and possibly on the Pacific coast of Baja California Peninsula, Mexico.[2]
Description
This nudibranch can grow as large as 60 mm (2 1⁄2 inches). It can be yellow or orange or brown, but always with very small opaque white dots. The dots are on the tips of raised tubercles and in circles around the tubercles.[2] The rhinophores on the head end are yellow or orange-yellow in color, and the gills (the rosette at the back) are white or pale yellow.[3]
Life habits
The food of Doriopsilla albopunctata needs to be clarified in the light of newly discovered species and reports may be of related species.[2] It has been reported to eat an orange sponge at Bahía de los Ángeles but this is possibly a reference to Doriopsilla bertschi.[4] It has also been reported to eat Cliona californiana - the yellow boring sponge, boring sponge or sulphur sponge.[5]
References
- ↑ Rosenberg, G.; Bouchet, P. (2015). Doriopsilla albopunctata (J. G. Cooper, 1863). In: MolluscaBase (2015). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species on 2016-12-13.
- 1 2 3 4 Hoover C., Lindsay T., Goddard J.H.R. & Valdés A. (2015). Seeing double: pseudocryptic diversity in the Doriopsilla albopunctata–Doriopsilla gemela species complex of the north-eastern Pacific. Zoologica Scripta. 44: 612-631.
- ↑ Rudman, W.B., 2001 (August 5) Doriopsilla albopunctata (Cooper, 1863). [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney.
- ↑ Bertsch, H., (2000) Doriopsilla albopunctata In: Miller, M. The Slug Site, accessed 2016-12-14.
- ↑ Cowles, Dave. "Cliona californiana (de Laubenfels, 1932)". Invertebrates of the Salish Sea. Walla Walla University. Retrieved 26 November 2017.
Further reading
- Behrens D. W. (1980) Pacific Coast Nudibranchs: a guide to the opisthobranchs of the northeastern Pacific, Sea Challenger Books, Washington
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