Material gradients in gastropod radulae and their biomechanical significance: a combined approach on the paludomid Lavigeria grandis.

ABSTRACT: The radula, a chitinous membrane spiked with teeth, is the molluscan autapomorphy for the gathering and processing of food. The teeth, as actual interfaces between the organism and the ingesta, act as load transmitting regions and have to withstand high stresses during foraging - without structural failure or high degrees of wear. Mechanisms contributing to this were studied previously in paludomid gastropods from Lake Tanganyika. For some species, gradients in hardness and Young's modulus along the teeth were detected, enabling the bending and relying of teeth onto the next row, distributing the stresses more equally. The here presented study on one of them - Lavigeria grandis - aims at shedding light on the origin of these functional gradients. The mechanical properties were identified b

SUBMITTER: Krings W 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9630255 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature