Medeiros Camilla, Caldeira Roberta Lima, Mendonça Cristiane Lafetá Furtado, Carvalho Omar Dos Santos, D'ávila Sthefane
Laboratório de Helmintologia e Malacologia Médica, Centro de Pesquisas René Rachou, Fiocruz, Av. Augusto de Lima, 1715, Belo Horizonte, MG 30190-002 Brasil.
Museu de Malacologia Prof. Maury Pinto de Oliveira, Programa de Pós graduação em Comportamento e Biologia Animal, Departamento de Zoologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora, Juiz de Fora, MG Brasil.
Springerplus. 2015 Apr 19;4:191. doi: 10.1186/s40064-015-0959-x. eCollection 2015.
Recent studies concerning species of land snails have revealed that the shell morphometrics can provide evidence of the differentiation among populations. In many cases, the morphologic analysis combined with the investigation of molecular variability, can support changes in taxonomy of studied groups. In this sense, the study of shell morphometry during snail development can contribute to the understanding of the structural mechanisms that creates the diversity observed.
The morphological and ontogenetic pattern differences were collected among snails from four different populations, kept under the same laboratorial conditions. It was possible to distinguish characteristic shell morphometrics for snails from each population. The snails from Barra Mansa and Floriano, locations with smaller precipitation indexes presented smaller shell aperture values. The results are discussed in terms of the role of the reproductive strategy of this species as a factor determining shell shape.
Differences in growth allometry indicated that the whole shell forming process is different among the populations, not only the final form of the adult's shell. Some allometry relationships indicated that, during the snails' development, the increase in shell width is not proportional to the increase of the width and height of the shell aperture. Thus, there is possibly an antagonism between the adoption of K-strategy and protection against desiccation. Since the spire indices of L. unilamellata morphotypes cannot be explained by physical functional aspects, the most likely explanation is the reproductive strategy of this species.
最近关于陆地蜗牛物种的研究表明，贝壳形态测量学可以为种群间的分化提供证据。在许多情况下，形态学分析与分子变异性研究相结合，可以支持所研究类群分类学的变化。从这个意义上说，研究蜗牛发育过程中的贝壳形态测量学有助于理解产生观察到的多样性的结构机制。
在相同实验室条件下饲养的来自四个不同种群的蜗牛之间收集了形态和个体发育模式差异。可以区分每个种群蜗牛的特征性贝壳形态测量值。来自降水指数较小的巴拉曼萨和弗洛里亚诺的蜗牛贝壳孔径值较小。根据该物种的繁殖策略作为决定贝壳形状的一个因素的作用对结果进行了讨论。
生长异速生长的差异表明，各种群之间整个贝壳形成过程是不同的，不仅仅是成年贝壳的最终形态不同。一些异速生长关系表明，在蜗牛发育过程中，贝壳宽度的增加与贝壳孔径宽度和高度的增加不成比例。因此，在采用K策略和防止干燥之间可能存在拮抗作用。由于单壳螺形态型的螺塔指数无法用物理功能方面来解释，最有可能的解释是该物种的繁殖策略。
