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

9509324该奖项将支持“低等异型腹足类(软体动物：腹足纲)”代表性成员的DNA序列数据的收集。这些分子数据将与之前收集的一些数据相结合，这些数据来自形态研究，涉及内部解剖、扫描电子显微镜(SEM)揭示的超微结构特征、组织学信息以及外部和贝壳特征。这些生物包括几个“原始”群体，它们之间的关系仍未解决。对它们关系的阐明也将有助于揭示鼻涕虫和陆生蜗牛的起源。揭示的关系将有助于理解这些动物的化石记录。这项研究将有助于我们了解一个令人惊叹的无脊椎动物门类的生物多样性。许多成员是海洋成员，但其他成员已经过渡到陆地和淡水中的生活。总体而言，腹足类或蜗牛、鼻涕虫及其近亲对人类生活非常重要，因为其中一些是重要的食物来源，另一些则携带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.