Doto uva Er. Marcus 1955

Doto uva Er. Marcus, 1955

(Figures 6C, 6D, 7C, 7D)

Material examined. Argentina, San Matías gulf: Plataforma, one specimen, 10 m, 21/02/2017 (ESCM-Ma-50); Plataforma, one specimen, 7 m, 03/2017; La Salvadora, three specimens, 11 m, 04/2017 (ESCM-Ma-46); Plataforma, three specimens (two specimens deposited MLP-Ma 14657) 10 m, 08/2017; Plataforma, four specimens, 5 m, 09/2017; Plataforma, three specimens, 8 m, 01/2018 (ESCM-Ma-18).

Description. Length up to 8 mm, body elongate and smooth, translucent whitish with darker spots. Smooth rhinophores with blunt apices, surrounded by rhinophore sheaths. Up to six cerata are present on each side of the body, it has 3-5 rings of 3-6 semiglobular tubercles and a tubercle at the top. The tubercles decrease in size towards the peduncle (Figure 6C). Radular formula 75-90 x 0.1.0 (MLP-Ma 14657). The rachidial teeth are arched with up to five lateral denticles on each side of the central cusp (Figures 7C, 7D).

Geographic distribution and depth range. Key Largo, Florida (Marcus & Marcus 1960); S„o Paulo, Brazil (Marcus 1957); Gulf of Ancud to Bay of Coliumo, Chile (Schrödl 2003), whereas Fischer & Cervera (2005) considerably extended its known geographical distribution to northern Chilean coast (see Fischer et al. 2006) and Peru (Uribe et al. 2013). Found on rocky bottoms between four and 12 m depth.

Biology. Found on hard bottoms associated with hydrozoans. Difficult to find due to its small size. The lightcream colored egg masses are thin, undulating ribbon of about 5 mm length. It is filled with numerous tiny, oval, encapsulated eggs (Figure 6D).

Remarks. The genus Doto has three species in the Argentinean Province, Doto caramella Marcus, Er. 1957, Doto pita Marcus, Er. 1955 and Doto uva Marcus, Er. 1955 (García & Bertsch 2009). This species was originally described for S„o Sebasti„o, Brazil (Marcus 1955), later Marcus (1959) recorded it in the Gulf of Ancud, extending its distribution to the southern coast of Chile. Schrödl et al. (2005) recorded it from the southern Chile in the Comau Fjord. Fischer & Cervera (2005), considerably extend the known distribution range to Tongoy and Tocopilla and the Chilean coast. Uribe et al. (2013) extend the distribution north to Ica, Bahia Independencia, Peru. In the present work, the know range of the species is expanded to the Argentine Sea. This wide southern South America distribution should be confirmed with further integrative studies.