''Geitodoris planata'' is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

sea slug Sea slug is a common name for some marine invertebrates with varying levels of resemblance to terrestrial slugs. Most creatures known as sea slugs are gastropods, i.e. they are sea snails (marine gastropod mollusks) that over evolutionary t ...

or dorid nudibranch, a

marine Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Military * ...

gastropod The gastropods (), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, from freshwater, and from land. T ...

mollusk Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is e ...

in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Discodorididae.

Taxonomy

It was originally described from Europe. Caribbean populations are morphologically similar but almost certainly distinct. Alvim & Pimenta (2013) regarded Caribbean animals as '' Geitodoris pusae'' (Er. Marcus, 1955), but no molecular studies have been conducted to compare animals from both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Further research is necessary to clarify the status of this species.

Distribution

Distribution of ''Geitodoris planata'' includes Mediterranean Sea, North Atlantic Ocean, North Sea, Western Atlantic: New Jersey, St. Lucia and Panama. The type locality is "

Lamlash Lamlash ( gd, An t-Eilean Àrd) is a village on the Isle of Arran, in the Firth of Clyde, Scotland. It lies south of the island's main settlement and ferry port Brodick, in a sheltered bay on the island's east coast, facing the Holy Isle. Lam ...

Bay",

Isle of Arran The Isle of Arran (; sco, Isle o Arran; gd, Eilean Arainn) or simply Arran is an island off the west coast of Scotland. It is the largest island in the Firth of Clyde and the seventh-largest Scottish island, at . Historically part of Butesh ...

, Scotland.

Description

The body is oval.

Mantle A mantle is a piece of clothing, a type of cloak. Several other meanings are derived from that. Mantle may refer to: *Mantle (clothing), a cloak-like garment worn mainly by women as fashionable outerwear **Mantle (vesture), an Eastern Orthodox ve ...

is rigid. Dorsum is covered by rounded, stalked tubercles. Background color is grayish-brown with some dark brown irregular patches. The color fades and becomes more translucent towards the mantle margin. Larger tubercles surrounded with opaque white pigment. Rhinophores and gill are usually the same color as the dorsum with white tips. The maximum recorded body length is 65 mm.Welch J. J. (2010). "The “Island Rule” and Deep-Sea Gastropods: Re-Examining the Evidence". '' PLoS ONE'' 5(1): e8776. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0008776.

Ecology

Minimum recorded depth is 91 m. Maximum recorded depth is 267 m. But this species apparently live also in more shallow water. It was found in coral rubble in a predominately sea grass habitat in Panama. Its prey include

sponges Sponges, the members of the phylum Porifera (; meaning 'pore bearer'), are a basal animal clade as a sister of the diploblasts. They are multicellular organisms that have bodies full of pores and channels allowing water to circulate through ...

'' Hemimycale columella'' and '' Hymeniacidon perlevis''.McDonald G. R. & Nybakken J. W. (1997). "List of the Worldwide Food Habits of Nudibranchs". '' The Veliger'' 40(2). UC Santa Cruz: Retrieved from: http://escholarship.org/uc/item/0g75h1q3

References

This article incorporates Creative Commons (CC-BY-4.0) text from the referenceGoodheart J. A., Ellingson R. A., Vital X. G., Galvão Filho H. C., McCarthy J. B., Medrano S. M., Bhave V. J., García-Méndez K., Jiménez L. M., López G. & Hoover C. A. (2016). "Identification guide to the heterobranch sea slugs (Mollusca: Gastropoda) from Bocas del Toro, Panama". ''Marine Biodiversity Records'' 9(1): 56.

External links

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3137237 Discodorididae Gastropods described in 1846