Sexual traits plasticity of the potentially invasive limpet Bostrycapulus odites (Gastropoda: Calyptraeidae) within its natural distribution in South America |
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| Authors: | Maximiliano Cledón Jesús Darío Nuñez Emiliano Hernán Ocampo Julia D Sigwart |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Ecología y Genética de Especies Marinas (EGEM) – Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras, CONICET – National University of Mar del Plata, Mar del Plata, Argentina;2. Marine Laboratory, School of Biological Sciences, Queen's University Belfast, N. Ireland, UK |
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| Abstract: | The slipper limpet Bostrycapulus odites has recently been reported as an introduced species on the Spanish Mediterranean coast. Another species in the family Calyptraeidae, Crepidula fornicata, is a problematic invasive species in the Northeast Atlantic, which makes the closely related Bostrycapulus introduction a matter of concern. Information on the biology of B. odites in its natural environment can facilitate predictions on where the species could find favourable conditions for settlement and expansion. Size and sex were recorded for individuals in four populations over 2600 km of the Southwestern Atlantic shoreline, in Argentina and Brazil, covering the whole native latitudinal range of this widely distributed species. Animals were collected by hand in the intertidal or by SCUBA in subtidal locations; specimens were examined to determine shell length, sex, and the presence and number of brooded egg capsules in females. Mean shell length for the whole population did not differ significantly among populations. However, this species experiences sequential hermaphroditism (protandrism), and the size at sexual maturity (minimum male size) increased significantly with latitude. The fecundity of females at all sites increased with size, and the number of brooded egg capsules as well as the average size of capsules was larger in bigger individual females; however, mean fecundity varied among sites independent of mean female body size. This limpet species modifies its reproductive traits with local conditions, and sexual characters develop earlier in more temperate localities. |
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| Keywords: | benthic environment Caenogastropoda
Crepidula
fecundity hermaphroditism introduced species Southwestern Atlantic |
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