Doris januarii is a species of sea slug, a dorid nudibranch, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Dorididae.Bouchet, P. (2015). Doris januarii (Bergh, 1878). In: MolluscaBase (2016). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species on 2016-12-07.
Taxonomic history This species was described by Rudolph Bergh in 1878 but considered to be a synonym of Doris verrucosa by von Ihering, 1886Ihering H. von (1886). Zur kenntnis der Nudibranchien der brasilianischen kuste. Jahrbücher der Deutschen Malakozoologischen Gesellschaft 13 (3): 223-240 and subsequent authors. A detailed anatomical comparison of these species concluded that they were distinct species.Lima P.O.V. & Simone L.R.L. (2015). Anatomical review of Doris verrucosa and redescription of Doris januarii (Gastropoda, Nudibranchia) based on comparative morphology. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. DOI: 10.1017/S0025315415000296I.
Distribution This species occurs on the Atlantic Ocean coast of Brazil, from Pernambuco to São Paulo.
Ecology This species lives at depths up to 12 m in the rocky subtidal region, near areas covered by the encrusting sponge Hymeniacidon heliophila (Parker, 1910) during the reproductive season.Martins T.K., Pires M.M., Lima A.S., Cavalheri H.B. and Vieira T.B. (2010) Uso de sinais químicos por Doris verrucosa (Mollusca:Nudibranchia) para seleção de locais para ovoposição. Universidade de São Paulo, Occasional Publication, 1–3.
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