Meeting Abstract

63.4  Tuesday, Jan. 6  Body size within species groups; do snail taxa have a specific size? DEMAINTENON, Marta; Univ. of Hawaii, Hilo demainte@hawaii.edu

Variation in body size within animal taxa involves anatomical differences, which may take the form of differences in cell numbers, cell size, and/ or variation in overall anatomy. Evolutionary decrease in body size is a factor that has been associated in many animal groups with the origination of novel body plans, leading to origination of higher taxa. Columbellids, a diverse group of small marine snails, have been shown to vary in adult size, from about 1mg to 200mg, and internal anatomy. The objective of this project was to investigate whether species level clades of columbellid gastropods vary in anatomical size, and if so how? Closely related species should be similar in overall anatomy, and so if they vary in body size should do so via cell sizes or numbers. Ongoing research on the systematic relationships of columbellids will be used to determine clades for comparison.