Re: Doto from Massachusetts, USA

March 20, 2003
From: Peter H. van Bragt

Katy and Bill,
Identifying Doto's just from a picture is indeed a very difficult matter. For Doto coronata we find that a red pigmented area on the inner face at the base of all the cerata is a good feature to identify this species. It is alas not clearly visible on my previous pictures but it does not seem to be present on Katy's Doto. Maybe it is better to call these specimen for the time being Doto sp.? I will see if I can find a slide in my collection that does show this characteristic pigmenation better. I do understand that pigmentation is probably the worst feature to use in the determination of Nudi's like Doto but with only pictures available this is all we can do. It would be nice if Katy could have a look at the radula.
Best regards
Peter

vanbragt.phjm@hsbrabant.nl

Thanks Peter,
I agree we have a problem here. I don't know whether to put all the Nth American east coast Dotos into a single page or attempt to separate them into species. Either way has its problems. At this stage I am separating off Katy's Doto and Betsey Hansen's photos as Doto sp. 8. Superficially, at least, they look to be the same species.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2003 (Mar 20). Comment on Re: Doto from Massachusetts, USA by Peter H. van Bragt. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/9447

Factsheet

Doto sp. 8

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