Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T09:16:24.340Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

VII.—Feeding and Reproduction in the Limapontiidæ

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 July 2012

Synopsis

In a new synopsis of the family Limapontiidæ the differences between Limapontia capitata and L. depressa, which may sometimes be mistaken for one another, are specially noted. These two species and Acteonia cocksi, the remaining member of the family, are sap-suckers that feed on the cell contents of green filamentous algæ. The cells are slit open one at a time by the leading tooth of the radula and their contents drained. The host plants of A. cocksi and L. capitata are marine Cladophora spp.; L. depressa feeds on Vaucheria. The size of the buccal mass varies according to the host plants. The subterminal position of the anus in L. depressa is an adaptive feature. The reproductive system of A. cocksi is described and compared with those of the other two species. During copulation both A. cocksi and L. capitata transfer sperm by hypodermic impregnation: sperm are injected by means of a penial style into a closed bursa copulatrix. The bursa of L. depressa opens to the exterior by a short duct and the penial style functions as a conducting pipe. Reasons are given for suppressing the genus Acteonia, Quatrefages, and including A. cocksi in the genus Limapontia, Johnston.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1956

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References to Literature

Adam, W., and Leloup, E., 1939. “Sur la presence l'Alderia modesta (Lovén 1844) en Belgique”, Bull. Mus. Hist. Nat. Belg., 15, No. 64.Google Scholar
Alder, J., and Hancock, A., 18451855. A Monograph of the British Nudibranchiate Mollusca. Ray Society, London.Google Scholar
Alder, J., and Hancock, A., 1848. “On a proposed new order of gasteropodous Mollusca’, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (2), 1, 401415.Google Scholar
Barron, D. H., 1934. “Amyl acetate: a useful solvent for embedding masses”, Anat. Rec., 59, 1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cain, A. J., 1954. Animal Species and their Evolution. Hutchison, London.Google Scholar
Cocks, W. P., 1849. “Notes on Falmouth fauna”, Rep. Roy. Bolyt. Soc. Cornwall. Google Scholar
Colgan, N., 1912. “Notes on the development of Acteonia showing that A. corrugata (A. and H.) is but an immature stage of their Cenia (Acteonia) cocksi ”, Irish Nat., 21, 215.Google Scholar
Colgan, N., 1914. “The Opisthobranch fauna of the shores and shallow waters of County Dublin”, Irish Nat., 23, 161204.Google Scholar
Eliot, C., 1910. British Nudibranchiate Mollusca. Part 8. Ray Society, London.Google Scholar
Engel, H., Geerts, S. T., and Van Regteren Altena, C. A., 1940. “ Alderia modesta (Lovén) and Limapontia depressa (Alder and Hancock) in the brackish waters of the Dutch coast”, Basteria, 5, 634.Google Scholar
Evans, T. J., 1952. “The alimentary and vascular systems of Alderia modesta (Lovén) in relation to its ecology”, Proc. Malac. Soc. Lond., 29, 249258.Google Scholar
Fretter, V., 1941. “On the structure of the gut of the Ascoglossan nudibranchs”, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., B, 110, 185198.Google Scholar
Gascoigne, T., 1952. “The distribution of Limapontia capitata (Müller) and of L. depressa (Alder and Hancock) on the coasts of Northumberland and Durham”, Proc. Malac. Soc. Lond., 29, 210213.Google Scholar
Hancock, A., 1862. “Description of a new species of naked Mollusca”, Trans. Tyneside Nat. Fld. Cl., 5, 316.Google Scholar
Iredale, T., and O'Donoghue, C. H., 1923. “List of British Nudibranchiate Mollusca”, Proc. Malac. Soc. Lond., 15, 198.Google Scholar
Kevan, D. K., 1934. “ Limapontia depressa A. and H. var. nov. in Scotland”, J. Conch., 20, 1624.Google Scholar
Kevan, D. K., 1939. “Further notes on Limapontia depressa A. and H. var. pellucida Kevan”, J. Conch., 21, 160162.Google Scholar
MacMillan, N. P., 1947. “Ecology of Limapontia capitata Müller”, J. Conch., 22, 277285.Google Scholar
Meyer, H. A., and Möbius, K., 1865. Die Fauna der Kieler Bucht, I. Leipzig.Google Scholar
Nicol, E. A. T., 1935. “The ecology of a salt marsh”, J. Mar. Biol. Ass. U.K., N.S., 20, 203261.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pelseneer, P., 1894. “Recherches sur divers Opisthobranches”, Mém. Cour. Acad. Belg., 53, 1.Google Scholar
Pelseneer, P., 1899. “La condensation embryologénique chez un Nudibranch”, Trav. Sta. Zool. Wimereux, 7, 513530.Google Scholar
Quatrefages, A. de, 1844. “Mémoire sur les Gastéropodes Phlébentérés”, Ann. Sci. Nat. Zool. (3), 1, 155.Google Scholar
Quick, H. E., 1950. “Observations on Limapontia”, Proc. Malac. Soc. Lond., 28, 134137.Google Scholar
Robson, G. C., 1920. “Observations on the succession of the gastropods Paludestrina ulvœ and ventrosa in brackish water”, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (9), 6, 525529.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smallwood, W. M., 1904. “The maturation, fertilization and early cleavage of Haminea solitaria ”, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard, 45, No. 4.Google Scholar
Smallwood, W. M., 1905. “Some observations on the chromosome vesicles in the maturation of Nudibranchs”, Morph. Jb., 33, 87105.Google Scholar
Thorson, G., 1946. “Reproduction and larval development of Danish marine bottom Invertebrates, with special reference to the planktonic larvæ in the Sound (Øresund)”, Medd. Komm. Havundersøg, Kbh., Serie Plankton, 4, 264.Google Scholar
Winckworth, R., 1932. “The British marine Mollusca”, J. Conch., 19, 233.Google Scholar
Yonge, C. M., 1949. The Sea Shore. Collins, London.Google Scholar