Abstract

OLIVA RIVERA, José Juan  and  NAVARRETE, Alberto de Jesús. Gastropod larvae from the south of Quintana Roo, Mexico. Hidrobiológica [online]. 2007, vol.17, n.2, pp.151-158. ISSN 0188-8897.

In their first development stages, gastropod presents a planktonic larval phase where their proto-shell suffers morphological transformations. Depending on each species, the shell has forms and different types of ornamentation that turn out to be an important taxonomic character for its identification. In this work, plankton gastropod larvae recollected in 1996-1998 at Bahia de la Ascension, Punta Gavilan, Banco Chinchorro and Hol-Chan Marine Reserve in Belize are described and illustrated; samples were collected using plankton nets and a submersible pump. A total of 31 species were found that grouped in three orders, 18 families and 20 genus. The family Cerithidae was the best represented with three genus and seven species, Naticidae had two genus and four species, while Epitoniidae had one genus and three species. Species with higher presence and distribution were Rissoina sp.1, Natica sp. and Limacina sp.

Keywords : Mollusks; larvae; Mexican Caribbean.

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