Doridoidea Rafinesque 1815

Doridoidea, commonly known as dorid nudibranchs (and previously known as the taxon Cryptobranchia), are a taxonomic superfamily of medium to large, shell-less sea slugs, marine gastropod mollusks in the clade Doridacea, included in the clade Nudibranchia.

Etymology

The word "Doridoidea" comes from the generic name Doris, which was in turn copied from the name of the sea nymph, Doris, in Greek mythology.

Families

Peltodoris nobilis from Yaquina Bay

According to the Taxonomy of the Gastropoda (Bouchet & Rocroi, 2005), families within the superfamily Doridoidea include:

• Actinocyclidae O'Donoghue, 1929
• Chromodorididae Bergh, 1891
• Discodorididae Bergh, 1891
• Dorididae Rafinesque, 1815

Changes later than 2005

The family Cadlinidae Bergh, 1891 was considered a synonym of the Chromodorididae. Research by R.F. Johnson in 2011^[2] has shown that Cadlina does not belong to the family Chromodorididae. She has therefore brought back the name Cadlinidae from synonymy with Chromodorididae. The chromodorid nudibranchs without Cadlina are now monophyletic and turn out to be a possible sister to the Actinocyclidae

Currently Recognized Families

• Actinocyclidae O'Donoghue, 1929
• Cadlinidae Bergh, 1891
• Chromodorididae Bergh, 1891
• Discodorididae Bergh, 1891
• Dorididae Rafinesque, 1815

• 

  Actinocyclus verrucosus of Actinocyclidae

• 

  Cadlina luteomarginata of Cadlinidae

• 

  Goniobranchus geminus of Chromodorididae

• 

  Diaulula nobilis of Discodorididae

• 

  Doris montereyensis of Dorididae

Synonyms

Mating pair of cryptobranchs (Diaulula sandiegensis)

The next families are considered synonyms. But these names can still be found in many publications and on the internet.

Cryptobranch dorid nudibranchs

Cryptobranch dorid nudibranchs (previously known as the taxon Cryptobranchia), are nudibranch sea slugs within the clade Doridacea. These slugs are called "cryptobranch," meaning "hidden gill", because they are able to retract their gills into a gill pocket, in contrast to nudibranchs in the traditional group phanerobranchs (or Phanerobranchia), which taxon is probably paraphyletic (in other words, composed of more than one evolutionary lineage).^[3]

A. Valdés distinguishes two major clades within the Cryptobranchia: the dorids that have no radula (the Porostomata); and those with a radula (the Labiostomata). The Labiostomata include the monophyletic families: Actinocyclidae, Chromodorididae, Dorididae and Discodorididae.^[4]

The cryptobranchs include the following genera that are regarded as valid:

References