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Types of larval development in Littorinidae (Gastropoda: Prosobranchia) of the World Ocean, and ecological patterns of their distribution

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Abstract

Relationships between the types of larval development in 4 species of Littorina from British shores and their inhabitancy of different tidal levels were established by Woodward (1909). His data have led to the view that the Littorinidae present a “text-book” example illustrating obligate interrelationships between the distribution of marine bottom invertebrates in certain biotopes and the possession by them of definite types of larval development. Analysis of data describing larval development of 39 species of littorinids from various regions of the World Ocean covering all its climatic zones, from the tropics to the Arctic, accumulated in the literature (Tables 1-5) demonstrates, however, that there exists only a relationship between viviparity and the inhabitancy of supralittoral zones, and between direct development and the inhabitancy of littoral zones. In 34 out of 39 littorinid species studied pelagic development, in various modifications, is present at all tidal levels; it is most common in the supralittoral zone, but not in the sublittoral zone, as has been generally assumed. The data presented in Tables 1-5 confirm the author's opinion (Mileikovsky, 1971, 1973) that the concept of obligate interrelationships between definite types of larvel development in marine benthic invertebrate and their existence in definite biotopes, based on Woodward's scheme, is false and must be rejected.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. P. P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of the Academy of Sciences of USSR, Moscow, USSR

    S. A. Mileikovsky

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  1. S. A. Mileikovsky
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Communicated by M.E. Vinogradov, Moscow

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Mileikovsky, S.A. Types of larval development in Littorinidae (Gastropoda: Prosobranchia) of the World Ocean, and ecological patterns of their distribution. Marine Biology 30, 129–135 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00391587

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