Dotidae are a taxonomic

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

of small

sea slug Sea slug is a common name for some Marine biology, marine invertebrates with varying levels of resemblance to terrestrial Slug, slugs. Most creatures known as sea slugs are gastropods, i.e. they are Sea snail, sea snails (marine gastropod moll ...

nudibranch Nudibranchs () are a group of soft-bodied marine gastropod molluscs, belonging to the order Nudibranchia, that shed their shells after their larval stage. They are noted for their often extraordinary colours and striking forms, and they have b ...

s, shell-less marine

gastropod Gastropods (), commonly known as slugs and snails, belong to a large Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, freshwater, and fro ...

mollusc Mollusca is a phylum of protostome, protostomic invertebrate animals, whose members are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 76,000 extant taxon, extant species of molluscs are recognized, making it the second-largest animal phylum ...

s formerly assigned to the order Opisthobranchia, but now considered to belong to the clade

Dexiarchia The Dexiarchia are a suborder of sea slugs, shell-less marine gastropod molluscs in the order Nudibranchia. This classification is based on the study by Schrödl ''et al.,'' published in 2001, who recognized within this clade two clades Pseudo ...

. This family has also been spelled in the past as "Dotonidae" and "Dotoidae". The

International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature The International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) is an organization dedicated to "achieving stability and sense in the scientific naming of animals". Founded in 1895, it currently comprises 26 commissioners from 20 countries. Orga ...

(ICZN) decided in 1964 that neither spelling was correct and adopted Dotidae Gray, 1853 as the accepted name for this family.

Distribution

This family occurs worldwide in cold and warm seas.

Genera

Genera within the family Dotidae include:Bouchet, P. (2015)
Dotidae.
In: MolluscaBase (2015). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species on 2015-06-24 * '' Caecinella'' Bergh, 1870 * '' Doto'' Oken, 1815 * '' Kabeiro'' Shipman & Gosliner, 2015 * '' Miesea'' Marcus, 1961 Synonyms include: * '' Gellina'' Gray, 1850

References

External links

*
SeaSlugForum overall list

Photos of Dotidae
{{Taxonbar, from=Q3141602 Taxa named by John Edward Gray Gastropod families