Leiblein gland

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The Leiblein gland , also Leiblein's gland, is a special form of a salivary gland in the anterior section of the intestine, the esophagus, of the snail (class Gastropoda). The Leiblein gland is considered to be a possible autapomorphy of the Neogastropoda group . It is named after the natural scientist Valentin Leiblein, who conducts research in Würzburg .

The unpaired gland is located in the haemocoel of the head section and opens into it from above (dorsal) at the rear (posterior) end of the middle section of the esophagus. The gland secretes digestive enzymes, in predatory species they have a proteolytic function as peptidases . In the neogastropods, the Leiblein gland usually occurs together with an evertable proboscis (proboscis). Depending on the group, it can be very large with an attached reservoir (ampoule) or small and tube-like; in some groups it is absent, presumably secondary to regression.

The poison gland of the superfamily Conoidea is interpreted as a transformed body gland.

Literature and Sources

  • Maria Vittoria Modica and Mande Holford: The Neogastropoda: Evolutionary Innovations of Predatory Marine Snails with Remarkable Pharmacological Potential. Chapter 15 in P. Pontarotti (editor): Evolutionary Biology - Concepts, Molecular and Morphological Evolution, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2010. doi: 10.1007 / 978-3-642-12340-5_15
  • WF Ponder (1973): The origin and evolution of the Neogastropoda. Malacologia 12 (2): 295-338.
  • Elizabeth B. Andrews & Keira E. Thorogood (2005): An ultrastructural study of the gland of Leiblein of muricid and nassariid neogastropods in relation to function, with a discussion on its homologies in other caenogastropods. Journal of Molluscan Studies 71 (3): 269-300. doi: 10.1093 / mollus / eyi036 .