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A Whole Mount In Situ Hybridization Method for the Gastropod Mollusc Lymnaea stagnalis
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Chiral speciation in terrestrial pulmonate snails.

Edmund Gittenberger1, Thomas D Hamann, Takahiro Asami

  • 1Netherlands Centre for Biodiversity, Leiden, The Netherlands. Edi.Gittenberger@ncbnaturalis.nnm.nl

Plos One
|April 26, 2012
PubMed
Summary

Snail coiling direction (chirality) varies geographically. The presence of the Clausiliidae family significantly increases sinistral (left-coiling) snail species, with Turkey showing exceptional rates of both sinistrality and mirror-image speciation.

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Area of Science:

  • * Evolutionary Biology
  • * Malacology
  • * Speciation Genetics

Background:

  • * Chirality, or handedness, in snail shell coiling (dextral/sinistral) is a well-documented phenomenon.
  • * The prevalence of sinistrality varies significantly across different geographic regions and snail families.
  • * The Clausiliidae family is known for a high incidence of sinistral coiling.

Purpose of the Study:

  • * To quantify and compare the percentages of dextral and sinistral snail species across Western Europe, Turkey, North America, and Japan.
  • * To investigate the relationship between the prevalence of sinistral species and the occurrence of chirality-linked speciation events.
  • * To explore potential factors influencing chirality-linked speciation, including shell morphology, genetic background, and natural selection.

Main Methods:

  • * Literature review and data compilation on snail species distribution and coiling direction.
  • * Calculation of sinistral vs. dextral species percentages for specified geographic regions.
  • * Analysis of speciation events related to chirality based on existing literature.

Main Results:

  • * Sinistral species constitute approximately 25% of all snail species in regions where the Clausiliidae family is present.
  • * In regions lacking Clausiliidae, sinistral species represent less than 1% of the total.
  • * The number of mirror-image speciation events is not strongly correlated with the percentage of sinistral species, except in Turkey, which shows high rates for both.
  • * Fossil and recent data for Clausiliidae suggest reversals in coiling direction occur every 3-4 million years.

Conclusions:

  • * The Clausiliidae family is a major driver of sinistral coiling prevalence in snail faunas.
  • * Chirality-linked speciation is influenced by factors beyond simple prevalence, including shell morphology and genetic background.
  • * Internal selection may act against sinistrality, despite its evolutionary occurrence.
  • * Reversals in coiling direction are rare evolutionary events within the Clausiliidae family.