Doto cuspidata

Tamsyn MAnn Doto cuspidata

Tamsyn MAnn Found in Plymouth today... Terry found another one!

João Pedro Silva Where was this taken, Tamsyn?

Tamsyn MAnn Plymouth, Devon, England!

João Pedro Silva It looks like Doto... but with that colour should be Doto cuspidata... but it feeds exclusively on Nemertesia ramosa.

Terry Griffiths Doto cuspidata as confirmed by Bernard .

Egidio Trainito Found in western Mediterranean (Sardinia), does anybody suggest an ID? Doesn't match with any of the mediterranean species. Too small (3 mm) to be photographed in his environment (a buoy just under the surface, with many others) and therefore his diet.

Bernard Picton Lovely photo, Egidio! Have you checked all of the Trinchese species, and do you know all of them in the field? The extra large tubercles at the tips of the cerata in this one are quite a distinctive feature.

Egidio Trainito Yes, Bernard, not all in the field, but could not find a match. I think I have found Doto paulinae, never found Doto rosea (to which have been synonimized aurea and cinerea) and D.cuspidata (to which have been synonimized costae, corneliae and splendida). The one in the photo doesn't look like rosea nor cuspidata. I have some five or six species that look new!! but nobody to study them!! What about the photos I've sent you some time ago?

Lucas CerCur Doto spp: a very big mess.

Bernard Picton I would ignore ALL those synonymies Egidio and go back to look at the original descriptions. Doto cuspidata is a northern Atlantic species and almost certainly does not occur in the Mediterranean at all. I am not familiar with the Mediterranean species (by seeing them alive under a microscope) so would not hazard a guess at the species names. There is a big project, like Lemche did for Doto in the NE Atlantic, which needs to be done for the Mediterranean. Do keep photographing them and make sure you get a sample of the hydroid they are on too. Carissa has got some good DNA results now for the Lemche species so we can make fast progress with the right approach.

Egidio Trainito Thank you Bernard Picton I will go on taking pictures and preserving samples, if anybody is willing to go deeper they are at disposal. I am trying to go back to original descriptions (I have them) but it is not simple and not so affordable.

Bernard Picton Taxonomy is a slow science, I'm afraid. Lemche split Doto coronata in his 1976 paper and we are still investigating those species in the NE Atlantic. Slowly we edge towards a better understanding, but this is why it is hard to get science funding for taxonomic projects, it takes many years to gather the observations and specimens. DNA is only part of the solution, as when it reveals unexpected relationships or new species we then need to go back into the field to build up a picture of each of the species, how to recognise it, how it varies, where it is found and what it feeds on.

Ingrid Thea Ølberg So Bernard... What you are saying is that we need MORE fun gatherings where we can nerd about nudies.. not just at Gulen, but elsewere also??

Carissa Shipman This species looks different than even the ones I have photos of from Sardinia Italy that are new species!

Carissa Shipman Actually I lied, We have some of this species at the Academy and I have some photos!

Carissa Shipman Anyone want to pay me to study the Dotidae for the rest of my life? jk

Lucas CerCur Do you promise us to finish and solve all about Doto? jk

João Pedro Silva "The ultimate question about Life, the Universe... and Doto" :)

Ian Smith 42.0 (42 dot 0)

Erling Svensen And this one, Doto lemchei? 1 cm specie from Gulen, Norway.

Bernard Picton Not Doto lemchei, but one of the Doto fragilis complex. Interesting lobed rhinophore sheaths on this one, which might be important, Doto cuspidata and Doto crassicornis have this character.

Erling Svensen Ok, Bernard, I call him Doto cuspidata var. Svensiensis

Bernard Picton var. svenseni - -ensis is for places so gulenensis...

Tamsyn MAnn Doto cuspidata

Tamsyn MAnn Found in Plymouth today... Terry found another one!

João Pedro Silva Where was this taken, Tamsyn?

Tamsyn MAnn Plymouth, Devon, England!

João Pedro Silva It looks like Doto... but with that colour should be Doto cuspidata... but it feeds exclusively on Nemertesia ramosa.

Terry Griffiths Doto cuspidata as confirmed by Bernard .

Bjørnar Nygård João Pedro Silva, the nudibranch in question might have been on the hydroid Kirchenpaueria pinnata, but I'm not sure.

João Pedro Silva Doto dunnei, I think.

Bjørnar Nygård Ok, thanks. I've collected the specimen and will send it to Jussi Evertsen.

Carissa Shipman So kool! Completely new!

Bernard Picton The shape of the tubercles is different to D. dunnei in my opinion. Trouble is the hydroid taxonomy isn't robust either plus some hydroids certainly support more than one species of Doto. Nemertesia species are particularly interesting, with Doto fragilis eating two species of Nemertesia, Doto pinnatifida one of these and Doto cuspidata the other.

Christian Skauge Finally - the report from the 2012 Nudibranch Safari at Gulen Dive Resort. Lots of images - go have a look :-)

Klas Malmberg Aquatilis Looking good!

Bernard Picton Nice Christian, but I don't think that is Doto hystrix! I think it's something I've never seen, but I'm wondering about Doto crassicornis...

Jussi Evertsen Large individuals fit the description for Doto hystrix, the really small ones had less prominent characters, but all had tubercles also on the back. Doto crassicornis is something else.

Klas Malmberg Aquatilis I am very interested in this discussion. Doto hystrix or crassicornis... Spiky cerata but not really spiky sheats, more vavy sheats, what could this be?

Bernard Picton Jussi, I'd really like to see photographs of Doto crassicornis, as I've never seen it. Lemche also illustrates a specimen as Doto cuspidata which looks like this, but is not the same as the thing we are calling D. cuspidata in Britain and Ireland.

Jussi Evertsen Christian has all the photos. Doto cuspidata as by Lemche differs from eg descriptions in Thompson & Brown. I after that there is somekind of transition between Doto fragilis to crassicornis to the small ind of hystrix.

Christian Skauge I'll try to get the photos posted as soon as possible... But there are unfortunately not too many. But you guys collected some, didn't you?

Torkild Bakken We collected specimens of Doto hystrix, as Jussi said they conformed well to the description in Thompson & Brown, we will have to wait for results. Doto crassicornis is on our list to check out. We have found some good specimens from near the type locality that we suspect may be the "real" one. But, a lot more work has to be done. Doto in Norwegian waters are more species than previously known, no doubt.

Bernard Picton Doto everywhere I think, not just Norwegian waters. Torkild Bakken, Are you keeping a sample of the hydroid you find them on? If you want a hand identifying the hydroids I can help - also I'll try and get round to putting up the different types I've seen on here.