Vol. 57, 2018

(update: 2018.07.18; 08.02) 

High Fecundity, Rapid Development and Selfing Ability in Three Species of Viviparous Land Snails Phaedusinae (Gastropoda: Stylommatophora: Clausiliidae) from East Asia

Anna Sulikowska-Drozd^1,*, Takahiro Hirano², Shu-Ping Wu³, and Barna Páll-Gergely⁴

¹Department of Invertebrate Zoology and Hydrobiology, Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection, University of Lodz, Banacha 12/16, 90-237 Lodz, Poland
²Center for Northeast Asian Studies, Tohoku University, 41 Kawauchi, Aoba, Sendai, Miyagi 980-0862, Japan
³Department of Earth and Life Science, University of Taipei, No.1, Ai-Guo West Road, Taipei, 10048 Taiwan
⁴Plant Protection Institute, Centre for Agricultural Research, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Herman Ottó street 15, Budapest, H-1022, Hungary

(Received 13 March 2018; Accepted 1 July 2018; Communicated by Benny K.K. Chan)

Anna Sulikowska-Drozd, Takahiro Hirano, Shu-Ping Wu, and Barna Páll-Gergely (2018) Life history traits are important yet understudied aspects of ecological diversification in land snail faunas. To acquire information for comparative analysis of gastropod life cycles, we conducted experimental breeding of three viviparous clausiliids from Japan and Taiwan. Under laboratory conditions, Tauphaedusa sheridani (Pfeiffer, 1866), T. tau (O. Boettger, 1877) and Stereophaedusa (Breviphaedusa) jacobiana (Pilsbry, 1902) featured similar times to complete shell growth (12-16 weeks), age of first reproduction (23-24 weeks) and annual fecundity (143-173 neonates per pair of snails). The maximum number of eggs retained in genital tract reaches nine for T. sheridani, 11 for T. tau, and seven for S. jacobiana. The ratio between average shell height of neonate and adult varied between 13.5% for T. tau, 13.9% for T. sheridani, and 16.7% for S. jacobiana. All species were able to self-fertilize. Exposure to long drought affects intrauterine embryo development in all species; additionally, it results in parent and embryo mortality in S. jacobiana. Observed differences in the structure of the egg envelope among studied species point to greater than expected differentiation of developmental processes in viviparous Phaedusinae of East Asia.

Key words: Land snail, Reproduction, Viviparity, Parental care, Life history.

*Correspondence: E-mail: anna.drozd@biol.uni.lodz.pl

Supplementary Materials: Table S1 | Table S2 | Table S3 | Table S4 | Table S5 | Table S6