Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T09:28:38.443Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

On the number of Patella species in south-west England

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

Patrick M. Gaffney
Affiliation:
Department of Ecology and Evolution, State University of New York, Stony Brook, New York 11794, U.S.A.

Extract

Limpet populations of the genus Patella from the south-west coast of England were examined by means of gel electrophoresis in order to settle debate on the specific status of the three Patella forms. Populations varied morphologically along an east-west gradient, from three distinct forms in the west to continuous intergradation in the east, in accord with earlier studies. Patella collected were divided into three groups on the basis of a complex of external features described by earlier workers, corresponding to the morphologically defined taxa P. vulgata Linn., 1758, P. aspera Röding, 1798, and P. depressa Pennant, 1777. These groups were electrophoretically distinct in five of seven enzyme systems examined, with no hybrids or intermediates. Incomplete speciation and hybridization can be ruled out as possible causes of the observed morphological variation.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1980

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Crisp, D. J. & Southward, A. J., 1958. The distribution of intertidal organisms along the coast of the English Channel. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 37, 157208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eslick, A., 1940. An ecological study of Patella at Port St Mary, Isle of Man. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London, 152, 4558.Google Scholar
Evans, R. G., 1947. Studies on the biology of British limpets. Part I. The genus Patella in Cardigan Bay. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 117, 411423.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Evans, R. G., 1953. Studies on the biology of British limpets – the genus Patella on the south coast of England. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 123, 357376.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Evans, R. G., 1958. The genus Patella on the west coast of France. Journal de conchyliologie, 98, 123151.Google Scholar
Fischer-Piette, E., 1935. Systématique et biogéographie des Patelles d'Europe et d'Afrique du Nord. Journal de conchyliologie, 79, 166.Google Scholar
Fischer-Piette, E., 1938. The concept of species and geographic isolation in the case of North Atlantic Patellas. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London, 150, 268275.Google Scholar
Fischer-Piette, E., 1948. Sur les éléments de prospérité des Patelles et sur leur specificite. Journal de conchyliologie, 88, 4596.Google Scholar
Fretter, V. & Graham, A., 1976. The prosobranch molluscs of Britain and Denmark. Part 1. Journal of Molluscan Studies, supplement 1, 37 pp.Google Scholar
Huxley, J., 1942. Evolution. The Modern Synthesis. London: Allen & Unwin.Google Scholar
Marine Biological Association, 1931. Plymouth Marine Fauna, 2nd edition. 371 pp. Plymouth.Google Scholar
Orton, J. H., 1946. Biology of Patella in Great Britain. Nature, London, 158, 173.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Orton, J. H. & Southward, A. J., 1961. Studies on the biology of limpets. IV. The breeding of Patella depressa Pennant on the north Cornish coast. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 41, 653662.Google Scholar
Powell, A., 1973. The patellid limpets of the world. Indo-Pacific Mollusca, 3 (15), 7599.Google Scholar
Simpson, G. G., 1953. The Major Features of Evolution. 434 pp. New York: Columbia University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Snedecor, G. W., 1956. Statistical Methods, 5th edition. 534 pp. Ames, Iowa: Iowa State College Press.Google Scholar
Sokal, R. R. & Rohlf, F. J., 1969. Biometry. San Francisco: W. H. Freeman & Co.Google Scholar
Van Valen, L., 1969. Variation genetics of extinct animals. American Naturalist, 103, 193223.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilkins, N. P., 1977. Genetic variability in littoral gastropods: phosphoglucose isomerase and phosphoglucose mutase in Patella vulgata and P. aspera. Marine Biology, 40, 151155.CrossRefGoogle Scholar