Mollusca is the second largest phylum in the animal kingdom, with around 85,000 species. They are highly diverse, inhabiting marine, freshwater, and terrestrial environments. Species radiations have occurred on islands, such as the over 250 land snail species in Madeira, of which 74% are endemic. Molluscs are characterized by their unsegmented, soft bodies, presence of an internal or external shell, and radula (toothed tongue).
Mollusca is the second largest phylum in the animal kingdom, with around 85,000 species. They are highly diverse, inhabiting marine, freshwater, and terrestrial environments. Species radiations have occurred on islands, such as the over 250 land snail species in Madeira, of which 74% are endemic. Molluscs are characterized by their unsegmented, soft bodies, presence of an internal or external shell, and radula (toothed tongue).
Mollusca is the second largest phylum in the animal kingdom, with around 85,000 species. They are highly diverse, inhabiting marine, freshwater, and terrestrial environments. Species radiations have occurred on islands, such as the over 250 land snail species in Madeira, of which 74% are endemic. Molluscs are characterized by their unsegmented, soft bodies, presence of an internal or external shell, and radula (toothed tongue).
Mollusca is the second largest phylum in the animal kingdom, with around 85,000 species. They are highly diverse, inhabiting marine, freshwater, and terrestrial environments. Species radiations have occurred on islands, such as the over 250 land snail species in Madeira, of which 74% are endemic. Molluscs are characterized by their unsegmented, soft bodies, presence of an internal or external shell, and radula (toothed tongue).
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The Diversity of
Molluscs Kingdom Animalia • Approx. 37 phyla of multicellular animals
• 9 MAJOR PHYLA
• Largest phylum (approx. 1.5 million
spp.) the Arthropods Major Phyla of Animals Arthropods dominate Molluscs the 2nd largest group 8 or 9 taxonomic classes 2 are extinct Taxonomic Scheme • Around 85,000 species - 60,000 to Phylum Mollusca 100,000 fossil species
• Proportion of undescribed species is
high - many taxa poorly studied
• Molluscs - about 23% of all the
named marine organisms – also live in freshwater & terrestrial habitats.
• Highly diverse, not just size
& anatomical structure but behaviour & habitat. Evolution • Molluscs evolved from a common ancestor - a segmented worm 540 million years ago
Giant African Snail (Achatina
marginata)
• Throughout human history
have been food, jewellery, tools & pets Mollusca Characteristics • Latin name means soft bodied • Unsegmented • An internal or external shell • A toothed tongue - the radula • A mantle - a fold in the body wall that lines the shell • Muscular foot (and/or tentacles) Anatomy • The radula - toothed chitinous ribbon (‘tongue’) in the mouth
• Used for cutting &
chewing food
• Present in all molluscs except bivalves Reproduction • Sexual – male & female • Sometimes both sex organs (hermaphrodite)
• Sea slugs & oysters can change
sex repeatedly
• External fertilization (aquatic
molluscs) & internal fertilization (terrestrial molluscs) • All produce eggs Class Gastropoda ‘Belly Foot’ • Includes the snails & slugs • Shell usually coiled • Shell - lost or reduced in some groups • Body symmetry distorted by torsion • Some monecious (hermaphrodite) species • Marine, freshwater, terrestrial • More than 35,000 species • 180 degree counter-clockwise twisting of the visceral mass, Torsion in Gastropods mantle & mantle cavity
• Positions the gills, anus &
openings from the excretory & reproductive systems just behind the head & nerve cord - twists the digestive tract into a u-shape
• Allows head to enter shell first –
defence Operculum • A proteinaceous or calcareous covering on the dorsal, posterior margin of the foot - protection & prevents desiccation
• Allows clean water from in front
of the snail to enter the mantle cavity Euphallic (hermaphrodite) Genitalia
Garden Snail (Conru aspersum)
Reproductive System & Function Ovotestis: Site of egg & sperm (functions as an ovary & a testis) Bursa Copulatrix: Receives sperm during copulation. Oviduct: Separates the groups of oocytes coming from the ovary into a line - < the chances of fertilisation Vas deferens: Accumulates sperm prior to copulation. Vagina: Receives sperm during copulation. Flagellum: Used in sperm transfer. Penis: Transfers sperm during copulation. Class Cephalopoda Class Cephalopoda • Squid, octopus, cuttlefish nautilus - 800 species
• Marine - characterized by bilateral body symmetry
• Prominent head &
tentacles modified from the primitive molluscan foot
• Carnivores Class Bivalvia • > than 15,000 species of clams, oysters, mussels, scallops, cockles etc.
• Saltwater & fresh
• Shell is divided from front to back into left
& right valves.
• Mostly filter feeders – gills are ctenidia =
specialised organs for feeding & breathing Madeira’s Molluscs • Volcanic island 20m years old
• 900 Km SW Portugal • 800 Km W of Morocco • 58 Km by 23 Km • Alt. 1860m Madeiran Land Snails - Evolution • More than 250 species 74% endemic area of 800 Km2 Madeira Land Snails - Evolution
• Allopatric speciation –fauna related to N Africa
• 20+ colonisations at different times
• Madeira has 2xs as many species as GB but fewer
families
• Proliferation of species in 3 families: Helicidae,
Pupillidae & Ferussaciidae • Porto Santo - isolated island Land snails on Porto Santo about 12 km by 5 km
• Species-rich & characterised by
radiations of spp. in several families, especially the Helicidae
• 65 samples from the mainland
& 5 offshore islets yielded 56 species, 84% of them endemic Hawaiian Snails
• Once, > 750 spp. - one of the best examples of
adaptive radiation
• 90% of this diversity has been lost!
• Habitat degradation & introduced predators
e.g. rats & rosy wolf snail (Euglandina rosea)
• Tree snails: a large genus of arboreal
(tree-living) endemic snails
• All 41 extant spp. are endangered
• In relation to land area, snail diversity richest in the Pacific islands Pacific Islands Snail Diversity • 25,000 islands – 3 main regions
• < 6000 spp. - most are single island endemics
• Land snails - most endangered group
• Most recorded extinctions since the 1500s
• Pacific island snails = the majority of those
extinctions Polynesian Tree Snails • Endemic to islands in the Pacific Ocean.
• 150 spp. of Partula snails described
• Ranging over 8,000 km
from Palau to the Society Islands Loss of Diversity • 86 species of Partula on the IUCN Red List 2004
• 51 are classified as Extinct (EX)
• 11 as Extinct in the Wild (EW) • 15 as Critically Endangered (CR) • 2 Endangered • 1 Vulnerable • 6 LC &/or data deficient Summary….. • Mollusca – 2nd largest Phylum in the animal kingdom • Appeared on earth 540 million years ago • 8/9 taxonomic classes • Main classes: Cephalopoda, Gastropoda, Bivalvia
• 85,000 spp. – 35,000 Gastropods
• 23% of all named marine organisms = molluscs • All main habitats – marine, freshwater & terrestrial • Species Radiations on Islands (& Archipelagos) • E.g. Madeira, Hawaii, Polynesia Summary…………….
• Soft bodied, Unsegmented, internal or external shell
• A toothed tongue - the Radula
• Mantle - a fold in the body wall that lines the shell • Muscular Foot (and/or tentacles) • Sexual – male & female, sometimes Hermaphrodite • Operculum – prevents desiccation
