REVSYS: Systematic revision of onchidiid slugs (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Pulmonata)

本项目将对软体动物、腹足动物、肺足动物等软体动物进行系统学分析和分类修正。盘尾纲蛞蝓的生态多样性在腹足类动物中是独一无二的——包括生活在海洋、淡水和陆地上的物种。因此，对盘尾虫科的研究将为本项目提供一个独特的机会，研究水生和陆地栖息地之间以及密切相关物种之间的一般进化转变。总的物种多样性和分布是目前未知的（147种已在世界范围内被描述，其中大部分在热带印度-西太平洋），并将在这里记录与一个新的分类修订基于形态学和分子数据。实地考察将为系统和生态分析提供新的材料。结果将以文章和专题修订的形式发表，以及分类鉴定密钥。研究和教育将通过一系列创新活动相结合，让来自接收院校的本科生参与进来。一名博士生和至少两名本科生将接受野外采集、解剖解剖、扫描电子显微镜、分子系统学和分类学理论问题的培训。加强盘子体系统分类将有利于来自不同领域的科学家——例如，生理学家使用盘子体作为模型来研究光接受，保护生物学家使用盘子体蛞蝓作为严重受威胁的沿海栖息地的多样性和生态的重要指标。

This project will analyze the systematics and revise the taxonomy of onchidiid slugs (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Pulmonata). Onchidiid slugs are unique within gastropods for their ecological diversity - including species that live in the sea, fresh water, and on land. As such, research on Onchidiidae will provide a unique opportunity for this project to study general evolutionary transitions between aquatic and terrestrial habitats and between closely related species. Total species diversity and distribution are currently unknown (147 species have been described worldwide, most of which in the tropical Indo-West Pacific), and will be documented here with a new taxonomic revision based on both morphological and molecular data. Field expeditions will provide fresh material for systematic and ecological analyses. Results will be published as articles and monographic revisions, as well as taxonomic identification keys.Research and education will be integrated through a series of innovative activities involving undergraduate students from the host institution. One PhD student and at least two undergraduate students will be trained in field collecting, anatomical dissection, Scanning Electron Microscopy, molecular systematics, and theoretical issues in taxonomy. Enhanced onchidiid systematics will be beneficial to scientists from different fields - for example, physiologists using onchidiids as a model to study photoreception, and conservation biologists using onchidiid slugs as a keystone indicator of the diversity and ecology of heavily-threatened coastal habitats.