Why do Univalve Shells of Gastropods Coil so Tightly? A Head-Foot Guidance Model of Shell Growth and its Implication on Developmental Constraints

Rihito Morita ()
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Rihito Morita: Natural History Museum and Institute

Chapter 29 in Morphogenesis and Pattern Formation in Biological Systems, 2003, pp 345-354 from Springer

Abstract: Summary Tight coiling with whorl overlap is the most frequent mode of shell coiling in gastropods. A new model of shell growth, the “head-foot guidance model”, implies that the contact of the head-foot mass with the mantle edge plays the main role in producing tight coiling. Computer simulation of the model suggests that the head-foot guidance mechanism imposes developmental constraints on the evolution of gastropods; 1.) bilaterally symmetric coiling is associated with bilaterally symmetric musculature of the foot mass; 2) tight coiling is associated with the contact of the head-foot mass and the mantle edge; 3) insertion of the foot muscle occurs in gastropods with an uncoiled shell.

Keywords: Contact Pressure; Shell Growth; Developmental Constraint; Univalve Shell; Life Position (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2003
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-4-431-65958-7_29

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DOI: 10.1007/978-4-431-65958-7_29

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