Radular force performance of stylommatophoran gastropods (Mollusca) with distinct body masses.

ABSTRACT: The forces exerted by the animal's food processing structures can be important parameters when studying trophic specializations to specific food spectra. Even though molluscs represent the second largest animal phylum, exhibiting an incredible biodiversity accompanied by the establishment of distinct ecological niches including the foraging on a variety of ingesta types, only few studies focused on the biomechanical performance of their feeding organs. To lay a keystone for future research in this direction, we investigated the in vivo forces exerted by the molluscan food gathering and processing structure, the radula, for five stylommatophoran species (Gastropoda). The chosen species and individuals have a similar radular morphology and motion, but as they represent different body mass cl

SUBMITTER: Krings W 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8131350 | biostudies-literature | 2021 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature