Document of bibliographic reference 381334

BibliographicReference record

Type
Bibliographic resource
Type of document
Journal article
BibLvlCode
AS
Title
On reproduction in the Pacific boreal limpet Erginus (Problacmaea) puniceus Lindberg, 1988 (Patellogastropoda: Rhodopetalidae)
Abstract

Fifty years ago, it was reported that individuals of the Pacific boreal limpet Problacmaea (= Erginus) bear a penis for copulation and brood their young in the pallial cavity. These observations were based on light microscopy, but now we reveal new details of the reproductive biology of Erginus (Problacmaea) puniceus with electron microscopy. Gametogenesis is fundamentally similar to other Patellogastropoda, but there are some key differences. Oocytes develop in the ovary, dorsal to the foot in the posterior half of the body, before passing through the oviduct to the pallial cavity, where they are fertilized and brooded. Development is direct with embryos being brooded to the crawl-away juvenile stage. However, sometimes fertilization occurs internally with embryos beginning development in or near the gonad. Free sperm, which were likely autosperm (self) but could have been allosperm (cross), were found near developing oocytes in the gonad. Spermiogenesis results in the formation of an enta-quasperm with a cap-like acrosome, a bullet-shaped nucleus and spherical mitochondria in the midpiece. Copulation was not observed, but we confirm the presence of a penis with a dorsal penial groove that lies below the right cephalic tentacle in males, which is typical of functional penises of some molluscs. Males were always smaller, but intermediate-sized individuals were hermaphroditic to different extents. The largest individuals were entirely female, and their penises were smaller and often lacked the penial groove. Thus, E. (Problacmaea) puniceus appears to be a protandrous hermaphrodite, passing from male to female phase. Remnants of the testis persist into the female phase, suggesting that they are protandrous hermaphrodites with overlap, possibly allowing for self-fertilization to occur on occasion. However, the largest females lacked any testis remnants, suggesting instead that the species may be protandrous sequential hermaphrodites.

Bibliographic citation
Buckland-Nicks, J.; Reunov, A.A.; Yurchenko, O.V. (2024). On reproduction in the Pacific boreal limpet Erginus (Problacmaea) puniceus Lindberg, 1988 (Patellogastropoda: Rhodopetalidae). J. Moll. Stud. 90(1): eyad023. https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/mollus/eyad023
Topic
Marine
Is peer reviewed
true

Authors

author
Name
John Buckland-Nicks
author
Name
Arkadiy Reunov
author
Name
Olga Yurchenko

Links

referenced creativework
type
DOI
accessURL
https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/mollus/eyad023

taxonomic terms

taxonomic terms associated with this publication
Erginus (Problacmaea) puniceus

Document metadata

date created
2024-01-29
date modified
2024-01-29