Discodorididae

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Discodorididae
Discodoris boholiensis

Discodoris boholiensis

Systematics
Superordinate : Heterobranchia
Order : Hind gill snails (Opisthobranchia)
Subordination : Nudibranchia (Nudibranchia)
Partial order : Star snails (Doridacea)
Superfamily : Doridoidea
Family : Discodorididae
Scientific name
Discodorididae
Bergh , 1891

The Discodorididae are a family of star snails in the suborder of the nudibranchs . They are mostly medium-sized, shellless snail species that eat sponges .

features

The Discodorididae have a broad, flat body with an oval outline and a widely spreading coat . The back is soft and covered with a great many small, scleritic bumps, the tubercles. By autotomy of edge pieces of the mantle, predators can be distracted. The propodium is bilobed with a front lobe often notched in the middle. The head has finger-like mouth feelers. The two antennae located further back, the rhinophores , are laminated. The gill ring around the anus on the back can be pulled back completely into the gill pockets.

The snails have a narrow radula with hook-shaped, mostly smooth posterior teeth, whereby the peripheral teeth can also be serrated or comb-shaped. There are no jaws or a pump to suck in food.

Way of life

The Discodorididae mainly eat crusty sponges , the meat of which is rasped with the radula.

Like other star snails, the Discodorididae are hermaphrodites and mate with each other with their mostly unarmed penises . They lay their eggs in egg strings from which numerous Veliger larvae hatch, feed on plankton and after a long pelagic phase they metamorphose into small star snails .

distribution

The Discodorididae include the "Pacific sea lemon" Peltodoris nobilis , which lives on the North American Pacific coast, and the scarlet Rostanga elandsia of the South African coast.

13 species of the family are known from the Brazilian Atlantic coast , including Discodoris branneri and the species Jorunna spongiosa, newly described in 2013 .

Species of the Discodorididae family can also be found in the Caribbean and the Mediterranean .

Systematics

According to Bouchet and Rocroi (2005), the Discodorididae family is one of four families in the superfamily Doridoidea . The family includes 28 genera:

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Juliana Alvim & Alexandre Dias Pimenta: Taxonomic review of the family Discodorididae (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Nudibranchia) from Brazil, with descriptions of two new species. Zootaxa, 3745, 2, pp. 152-198, 2013 doi : 10.11646 / zootaxa.3745.2.2
  2. ^ World Register of Marine Species , Discodorididae Bergh, 1891

literature

  • John D. Fish, Susan Fish: A Student's Guide to the Seashore . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2011. 540 pages. Discodorididae , p. 246.
  • Philippe Bouchet & Jean-Pierre Rocroi: Part 2. Working classification of the Gastropoda . Malacologia, 47: 239-283, Ann Arbor 2005 ISSN  0076-2997

Web links

Commons : Discodorididae  - Collection of images, videos and audio files