First report of mass captacula autotomy behavior in Scaphopoda
Fogarolli, V.A.; Machado, F.M.; Simone, L.R.L. (2026). First report of mass captacula autotomy behavior in Scaphopoda. Molluscan Horizons 1: e260101
In: Molluscan Horizons. Brazilian Society of Malacology (SBMa): Rio de Janeiro . , more
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| Keywords |
Mollusca [WoRMS]; Paradentalium disparile (A. d'Orbigny, 1847) [WoRMS]
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| Author keywords |
Brazil, new, behavior, Southwest Atlantic, tusk shells |
| Authors | | Top |
- Fogarolli, V.A.
- Machado, F.M.
- Simone, L.R.L.
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| Abstract |
Behavioral studies on scaphopods are scarce and predominantly focused on feeding and burrowing strategies. Available evidence indicates physiological traits relevant to stress responses, including captacula autotomy during feeding and rapid retraction of captacula and foot into the mantle cavity upon disturbance. Herein, we report a novel behavior in Paradentalium disparile (d’Orbigny, 1847), based on observations of living individuals from the southwestern Atlantic coast of Brazil. Upon light tactile stimulation, unburied individuals autotomized a tangled mass of captacula, which showed residual movement while the animals simultaneously retracted the remaining tissues. Similar masses of detached captacula were also observed in preserved specimens during dissection, suggesting that this probably physiological stress response may be more common than previously recognized. |
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