Cleavage pattern in embryos of Haliotis tuberculata (Archaeogastropoda) and gastropod phylogeny

The early cleavage pattern in embryos of the archaeogastropod Haliotis tuberculata strongly resembles the cleavage pattern of the archaeogastropods Trochus and Patella. It typically deviates from the cleavage patterns found in embryos of more advanced Archaeogastropoda, Caenogastropoda (the majority of the meso- and neogastropods), and Euthyneura (opisthobranch and pulmonate gastropods). It is assumed that the cleavage pattern found in Haliotis, Trochus, and Patella represents the ancestral pattern. A regular pattern of heterochronic changes in the succession of the formation of the larval trochoblasts and the stem cell of the adult mesoderm can be observed from the more primitive Archaeogastropoda to the more advanced Euthyneura. This observation strengthens the idea that the early cleavage pattern contains significant phyletic information. © 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.