One species, two developmental modes: a case of geographic poecilogony in marine gastropods.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Poecilogony, the presence of two developmental modes in the same animal species, is a rare phenomenon. Few cases of poecilogony have been suggested for marine invertebrates including molluscs and even less stood extensive testing, mostly revealing a species pair with differing developmental modes. We studied a textbook example of poecilogony in the viviparous snail Planaxis sulcatus (Gastropoda: Planaxidae), for the first time throughout its entire distribution range.

Results

In the Western Indian Ocean and Red Sea this intertidal species is observed to have large, shelled juveniles, whereas in the Indo-West Pacific planktotrophic veliger larvae are released from a subhaemocoelic brood pouch. We uncovered a shift in developmental modes across its range: from west

SUBMITTER: Wiggering B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7318368 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature