Periwinkles

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Periwinkles
Littorina littorea

Littorina littorea

Systematics
Superordinate : Caenogastropoda
Order : Sorbeoconcha
Subordination : Hypsogastropoda
Partial order : Littorinimorpha
Superfamily : Littorinoidea
Family : Periwinkles
Scientific name
Littorinidae
Children , 1834

The periwinkles (Littorinidae) are a family from the Caenogastropoda group . They are common on the European seashores but have various adaptations that allow them to live outside the water, e.g. B. on stones protruding from the water and in the splash zone.

features

The periwinkles have a firm, often pigmented shell, which can have a moderately high thread. The sculpture consists of growth lines, spirally running lines can also be present, but never ribs. The foot has the shape of a shield and is blunt at the front with two edges. The epipodium and metapodium have no appendages. The spiral operculum has 2 to 3 rapidly increasing turns.

Periwinkles are separate sexes with internal fertilization. Veliger larvae hatch from the eggs and, after a pelagic phase, metamorphose into small snails .

As herbivores, periwinkles feed on both microscopic and macroscopic algae .

Species of the North and Baltic Seas

The smaller species of the genus Littorina are difficult to identify from the outside, but can be differentiated based on their way of life in different zones of the coast. So there is Littorina neritoides especially in the splash zone, you follow Littorina saxatilis in the flood zone, while Littorina obtusata located near the low tide line. These snails are true to their location, they orient themselves on the position of the sun in order to be able to return to their starting point.

Systematics

According to Bouchet and Rocroi (2005), the Littorinidae family is one of seven families in the superfamily Littorinoidea . The Littorinidae family includes 3 subfamilies with a total of 23 genera:

literature

  • Bernhard Grzimek (ed.): Grzimeks animal life. Encyclopedia of the Animal Kingdom in 13 volumes. Volume 3: molluscs and echinoderms. Unchanged reprint of the dtv edition from 1979/80. Bechtermünz-Weltbildverlag, Augsburg 2000, ISBN 3-8289-1603-1
  • Philippe Bouchet, Jean-Pierre Rocroi: Part 2. Working classification of the Gastropoda . In: Malacologia , 47, Ann Arbor 2005, pp. 239-283, ISSN  0076-2997

Individual evidence

  1. ^ World Register of Marine Species , Littorinidae Children, 1834
  2. ^ A b D. G. Reid: "The genus Echinolittorina Habe, 1956 (Gastropoda: Littorinidae) in the western Atlantic Ocean." In: Zootaxa , 2184, 2009, pp. 1–103, abstract (PDF; 22 kB)
  3. ^ A b Fresh Water Molluscan Species in India .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF) 11 p., (File created July 29, 2010) accessed July 31, 2010.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / zsi.gov.in  
  4. ^ ST Williams, DG Reid, DTJ Littlewood: A molecular phylogeny of the Littorininae (Gastropoda: Littorinidae): unequal evolutionary rates, morphological parallelism, and biogeography of the Southern Ocean. . In: Mol Phylogenet Evol. . 1, No. 1, 2003, pp. 60-86. doi : 10.1016 / S1055-7903 (03) 00038-1 . PMID 12801472 .
  5. ^ WT Blanford: Notes on some Indian and Mascarene Land-Shells . In: Annals and Magazine of Natural History (4) 3, 1869, pp. 340-344. P. 343 .

Web links

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