Pedicularia
Pedicularia as a symbiont of South African stylasterids The cypraeoid gastropod genus Pedicularia Swainson occurs worldwide from shallow to deep water. The highest latitude occurrences presently known are at about 48 °N in the northeast Atlantic (Celtic Sea) and at about 37 °S in both the southwest...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Other/Unknown Material |
| Language: | unknown |
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2013
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| Online Access: | https://zenodo.org/record/5619791 https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5619791 |
| Summary: | Pedicularia as a symbiont of South African stylasterids The cypraeoid gastropod genus Pedicularia Swainson occurs worldwide from shallow to deep water. The highest latitude occurrences presently known are at about 48 °N in the northeast Atlantic (Celtic Sea) and at about 37 °S in both the southwest Pacific (Three Kings Islands, New Zealand) and the southwest Indian Ocean (Sapmer Seamount southeast of Madagascar). No Pedicularia seem to exist at higher northern and southern latitudes whereas stylasterids do occur up to Iceland, Norway, Alaska, and Antarctica. All Pedicularia are obligate symbionts on stylasterids (symbiont in its most neutral and etymologic sense of “living together”). The less than centimetric shells may be homochromous with the stylasterid host. Pedicularia feeds on its host coral, but how precisely is still unknown. Biology data are scarce. Liltved (1985 a, 1985 b, 1989) published interesting observations (juveniles still moving freely on the host before becoming sedentary) and speculations on feeding (consuming mucoid secretions of the host). Adult Pedicularia always have their shell edge closely conforming to the configuration of the stylasterid branch at the place where they sit. This is a situation similar to that of a limpet shell adapting to the irregularities of the rock. Under the foot of the snail the branch surface is modified in a somewhat elongate area. It may have the aspect of a slightly prominent flat and smooth “sole”, or even bear distinct crests. In other cases the surface where the foot of the snail adheres is, as a whole, slightly depressed. Whether smooth or with crests, this is presumed to depend on the Pedicularia species involved. More distinct “soles” typically correspond to larger specimens (perhaps a matter of time to produce them). It is not intended here to discuss the precise structure of the modified area and how this modification is produced. Thanks to the modified branch surface at the site where a Pedicularia had been sitting, information can be obtained on ... |
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