Trophic specialisation reflected by radular tooth material properties in an "ancient" Lake Tanganyikan gastropod species flock.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Lake Tanganyika belongs to the East African Great Lakes and is well known for harbouring a high proportion of endemic and morphologically distinct genera, in cichlids but also in paludomid gastropods. With about 50 species these snails form a flock of high interest because of its diversity, the question of its origin and the evolutionary processes that might have resulted in its elevated amount of taxa. While earlier debates centred on these paludomids to be a result of an intralacustrine adaptive radiation, there are strong indications for the existence of several lineages before the lake formation. To evaluate hypotheses on the evolution and radiation the detection of actual adaptations is however crucial. Since the Tanganyikan gastropods show distinct radular tooth mo

SUBMITTER: Krings W 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7931582 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature