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Busycotypus canaliculatus (Linnaeus, 1758) Sinistral |
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Cape Cod, Massachusetts (about 137 mm.) |
| Harry Lee dissected 850
embryonic shells out of a strand of B. canaliculatus egg capsules
shortly after collecting it at Simpson's Creek, Jacksonville, Florida in
May, 1979. Three of 850 shells were sinistral. Considering the extreme
rarity of sinistral adult specimens (only two known to us), this finding
suggests that sinistrality is associated with a selective disadvantage in
this species. In contrast, Magalhães (1948, p. 396) teased 1848 specimens
from a strand of Busycon carica capsules and found all to be
dextral. Clearly this type of study needs to be extended. Magalhães, H., 1948. An ecological study of snails of the genus Busycon at Beaufort, North Carolina. Ecological Monographs 18(3): 379-409. July. |
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