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Colour polymorphism and oviposition habits of Lamellaria mopsicolor

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 February 2009

Gustavo Muniz Dias  and
Cynthia Grazielle Martins Delboni
Gustavo Muniz Dias*
Affiliation:
Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia, Departamento de Zoologia, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), CP 6109, CEP 13083-970, Campinas, SP, Brazil
Cynthia Grazielle Martins Delboni
Affiliation:
Departamento de Zoologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo (USP), CEP 05508-900, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: Gustavo Muniz Dias, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia, Departamento de Zoologia, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), CP 6109, CEP 13083-970, Campinas, SP, Brazil email: gmunizdias@gmail.com
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Abstract

The gastropod Lamellaria mopsicolor utilizes ascidians of the family Didemnidae for food and as an incubatory site for its eggs. Individuals always mimic the colour of their host ascidian. At a study site in south-eastern Brazil, the number of incubatory pouches in each ascidian colony ranged from 3 to 53, and the number of eggs in each pouch ranged from 13 to 164. Larval development inside the colony lasted about six days, and caused the death of the zooids around the incubatory pouch or even a part of the colony. Lamellaria mopsicolor is, therefore, a specialized parasite of ascidians.

Keywords

parasitismascidianmollusc
Type
Research Article
Information
Marine Biodiversity Records , Volume 1 , January 2008 , e49
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2006

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