Monoplacophora

Monoplacophorans
Temporal range: early Cambrian–mid Devonian
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
(unranked): Monoplacophora
Odhner, 1940

Monoplacophora, meaning "bearing one plate", is a polyphyletic superclass of molluscs with a cap-like shell now living at the bottom of the deep sea. Extant representatives were unknown until 1952; previously they were known only from the fossil record.

Although the shell of many monoplacophorans is limpet-like in shape, they are not gastropods and are not closely related to gastropods.

Definition

Discussion about monoplacophorans is made difficult by the slippery definition of the taxon; some authors take it to refer to all non-gastropod molluscs with a single shell, or all single-shelled molluscs with serially repeated units; whereas other workers restrict the definition to cap-shaped forms, excluding spiral and other shapes of shell.[1] The inclusion of the gastropod-like Bellerophontoidea within the group is also contentious.[2]

One attempt to resolve this confusion was to separate out the predominantly coiled helcionelloids from the traditional, cap-like tergomyans, this latter group containing extant Tryblidiids.[2]

Anatomy and physiology

Internal anatomy of Micropilina. The head region is on the left by the mouth.

Monoplacophorans are univalved (though not gastropodal), limpet-shaped, and are untorted. They have a pseudometamerism of bilaterally symmetrical repeated organs and muscles. The extant members of the class live only in the deep ocean (the abyssal zone, the continental shelf, and the continental slope) at depths below 180 metres (590 ft). Cambrian forms predominately lived in shallow seas, whereas later Paleozoic forms are more commonly found and in deeper waters with soft, muddy sea floors.[1]

The repeated organs include from three to six pair of "gills" (actually ctenidia) located in a curved line along each side of the foot (though the number is not always considered definitive of a given species), and as many as six "kidneys" (actually nephridia). The tip or point of their low shells points forward rather than towards the back. The shell ranges from 3mm to 37mm in diameter depending on species. The mouth is located within the animal's undeveloped head in front of its single large foot and contains a radula, a defining characteristic of the mollusca. They also have a cone-shaped stomach with a single crystalline style though no gastric shield. The intestines are long and make between four and six loops before reaching the posteriorly-positioned anus.

The sexes are separate with any given animal having two pair of either ovaries or testes connected to either the third or fourth pair of kidneys. One genus, Micropilina, has apparently been recorded as brooding young in the distal oviduct and pallial groove, releasing the young when approximately 300 micrometers in diameter.[3]

Phylogenetic position

In 2006 a molecular study on Laevipilina antarctica suggested that extant Monoplacophora and Polyplacophora form a well-supported clade with the researched Neopilina closest to the chitons.[4] The two classes in this new clade, with the proposed name Serialia, all show a variable number of serially repeated gills and eight sets of dorsoventral pedal retractor muscles.

This study contradicts the fossil evidence, which suggests that the Monoplacophora are the sister group to the remainder of the conchiferans,[5][6][7] and that the cephalopods (squids, octopuses, and relatives) arose from within the monoplacophoran lineage.[8] However, some authors dispute this view and do not necessarily see modern Monoplacophora as related to their fossil ancestors.[9]

The fossil record does indicate that the ancestral mollusc was monoplacophoran-like and that the Polyplacophora arose from within the Monoplacophora – not the other way round;[10] this could be reconciled if a secondary loss of shells caused a monoplacophoran body form to reappear secondarily. This is plausible: modern monoplacophorans are not closely related to vent-dwelling representatives from the Silurian, at least.[11]

Cambrian monoplacophoran Knightoconus antarcticus is thought to be an ancestor to the cephalopods.

Fossil species

Families:

The taxonomy of the Gastropoda by Bouchet & Rocroi, 2005[12] also contains Paleozoic molluscs of uncertain systematic position. It is not known whether these were gastropods or monoplacophorans.

References

  1. 1 2 Lindberg, D. R. (2009). "Monoplacophorans and the Origin and Relationships of Mollusks". Evolution: Education and Outreach 2: 191–203. doi:10.1007/s12052-009-0125-4.
  2. 1 2 Gubanov, A. P.; Peel, J. S. (2001). "Latest Helcionelloid Molluscs from the Lower Ordovician of Kazakhstan". Palaeontology 44: 681. doi:10.1111/1475-4983.00198.
  3. ↑ Counts, Clement L. (2006). "Chapter 17:Monoplacophora". In Sturm, C.F.; Pearce, T.A.; Valdes, Angel. The Mollusks: A Guide to Their Study, Collection, And Preservation. Universal. pp. 212–214. ISBN 9781581129304.
  4. ↑ Giribet, G.; Okusu, A, A.; Lindgren, A.R., A. R.; Huff, S.W., S. W.; Schrödl, M, M.; Nishiguchi, M.K., M. K. (May 2006). "Evidence for a clade composed of molluscs with serially repeated structures: monoplacophorans are related to chitons" (Free full text). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 103 (20): 7723–7728. Bibcode:2006PNAS..103.7723G. doi:10.1073/pnas.0602578103. PMC 1472512. PMID 16675549.
  5. ↑ Scheltema, A. H. (February 1, 1993). "(1993) Biol. Bull 184, 57–78 Aplacophora as Progenetic Aculiferans and the Coelomate Origin of Mollusks as the Sister Taxon of Sipuncula". The Biological Bulletin 184 (1): 57–78. doi:10.2307/1542380. JSTOR 1542380.
  6. ↑ Haszprunar, G. (2000) Am. Malacol. Bull 15, 115–130.
  7. ↑ Salvini-Plawen, L. V. & Steiner, G. (1996) in Origin and Evolutionary Radiation of the Mollusca ed. Taylor, J. D. (Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford), pp. 29–51.
  8. ↑ Clarke, M.R.; Trueman, E.R., ed. (1988). "Main features of cephalopod evolution". The Mollusca. 12: Palaeontology and Neontology of Cephalopods. Orlando, Fla.: Acad. Pr. ISBN 0-12-751412-0.
  9. ↑ Budd, G. E.; Jensen, S. (2000). "A critical reappraisal of the fossil record of the bilaterian phyla". Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society 75 (2): 253–95. doi:10.1111/j.1469-185X.1999.tb00046.x. PMID 10881389.
  10. ↑ Runnegar, B.; Pojeta Jr, J. (Oct 1974). "Molluscan Phylogeny: the Paleontological Viewpoint". Science 186 (4161): 311–317. Bibcode:1974Sci...186..311R. doi:10.1126/science.186.4161.311. JSTOR 1739764. PMID 17839855.
  11. ↑ Little, C.; Vrijenhoek, R. C. (2003). "Are hydrothermal vent animals living fossils?". Trends in Ecology & Evolution 18 (11): 582–588. doi:10.1016/j.tree.2003.08.009.
  12. ↑ Bouchet P. & Rocroi J.-P. (Ed.); Frýda J., Hausdorf B., Ponder W., Valdés Á. & Warén A. 2005. Classification and nomenclator of gastropod families. Malacologia: International Journal of Malacology, 47(1-2). ConchBooks: Hackenheim, Germany. ISBN 3-925919-72-4. ISSN 0076-2997. 397 pp. http://www.vliz.be/Vmdcdata/imis2/ref.php?refid=78278

Further reading

External links

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