Terrestrial gastropods - how do they reproduce?

Authors

  • K S Zajac Institute of Environmental Sciences, Jagiellonian University, Gronostajowa 7, 30-387 Kraków, Poland
  • P E Kramarz Institute of Environmental Sciences, Jagiellonian University, Gronostajowa 7, 30-387 Kraków, Poland

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25431/1824-307X/isj.v14i1.199-209

Keywords:

copulation, mating, oviposition, reproductive systems, sequential hermaphrodite, simultaneous hermaphrodite, terrestrial gastropods

Abstract

Molluscs are the most diverse group in respect of sexual systems and strategies. They can be dioecious with separate sexes or hermaphroditic. Within hermaphroditism, it is possible to distinguish a number of modifications of this type of reproduction, such as protandry, protogyny, sex reversal, or protandry with some overlap. It is thought that dioecy was ancestral because it occurs in most classes of molluscs. Hermaphroditism evolved independently several times, and sequential and simultaneous hermaphroditism are more closely related to each other than to dioecy. This publication presents a general review of sexual systems and strategies in terrestrial gastropods with special emphasis on mating, fertilization, presence of love darts, reproductive strategies (semelparity vs. iteroparity) and modes (oviparity, ovoviviparity, viviparity), production of eggs and egg cannibalism. 

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Published

2017-05-05

Issue

Section

Review