Relationships Between the Main Clades of Gastropoda: A Combined Morphological and Molecular Analysis of "Lower Heterobranchs" (Mollusca)

该奖项将支持收集来自“低等异枝腹足动物”（软体动物：腹足动物）谱系的代表性成员的DNA序列数据。这些分子数据将与先前收集的数据相结合，包括内部解剖的形态学研究，扫描电子显微镜（SEM）显示的超微结构特征，组织学信息以及外部和外壳特征。这些生物包括几个“原始”群体，它们之间的关系仍未得到解决。阐明它们之间的关系也将有助于阐明蛞蝓和陆地蜗牛的起源。揭示的关系将有助于了解这些动物的化石记录。这项研究将有助于我们了解一个神奇的无脊椎动物门的生物多样性。许多成员是海洋生物，但其他成员已经过渡到陆地和淡水生活。总的来说，腹足类动物或蜗牛、蛞蝓及其亲戚对人类生活非常重要，因为有些是重要的食物来源，有些是人类和家畜的寄生虫。

9509324 BIELER This award will support collection of DNA sequence data from representative members of "lower heterobranch gastropod (Mollusca: Gastropoda) lineages. These molecular data will be combined with data, some previously collected, from morphological studies involving internal anatomy, ultrastructural features revealed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and histological information, as well as external and shell characteristics. These organisms include several "primitive" groups for which the relationships remain unresolved. Elucidation of their relationships will also shed light on the origins of slugs and land snails. The relationships revealed will be of use in trying to understand the fossil record of these animals. This study will contribute to our knowledge of the biodiversity of an amazing phylum of invertebrate animals. Many of the members are marine, but others have made transitions to life on land and in fresh water. Collectively, gastropods or snails, slugs and their relatives are of much importance to human life, as some are an important food source and others harbor parasites of both humans and domestic animals.