The Neogastropoda: Evolutionary Innovations of Predatory Marine Snails with Remarkable Pharmacological Potential
The Neogastropoda include many familiar molluscs, such as cone snails (Conidae), purple dye snails (Muricidae), mud snails (Nassariidae), olive snails (Olividae), oyster drills (Muricidae), tulip shells (Fasciolariidae), and whelks (Buccinidae). Due to th
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The Neogastropoda: Evolutionary Innovations of Predatory Marine Snails with Remarkable Pharmacological Potential Maria Vittoria Modica and Mande¨ Holford
Abstract The Neogastropoda include many familiar molluscs, such as cone snails (Conidae), purple dye snails (Muricidae), mud snails (Nassariidae), olive snails (Olividae), oyster drills (Muricidae), tulip shells (Fasciolariidae), and whelks (Buccinidae). Due to their amazing predatory specializations, neogastropods are often dominant members of the benthic community at the top of the food chain. In a dazzling display that ranges from boring holes to darting harpoons, neogastropods have developed several prey hunting innovations with specialized compounds pharmaceutical companies could only dream about. It has been hypothesized that evolutionary innovations related to feeding were the main drivers of the rapid neogastropod radiation in the late Cretaceous. The anatomical, behavioral, and biochemical specializations of neogastropod families that are promising targets in drug discovery and development are addressed within an evolutionary framework in this chapter.
15.1
Introduction
15.1.1 The Neogastropoda Neogastropoda is an order of gastropod molluscs that are well characterized morphologically and are traditionally viewed as monophyletic (Ponder 1973; Taylor and Morris 1988; Ponder and Lindberg 1996, 1997; Kantor 1996; Strong 2003). M.V. Modica Dipartimento di Biologia Animale e dell’Uomo, “La Sapienza”, University of Rome, Viale dell’Universita` 32, 00185 Rome, Italy e-mail: [email protected] M. Holford The City University of New York – York College & Graduate Center, and The American Museum of Natural History, 94–20 Guy R. Brewer Blvd, Jamaica, NY 11451, USA e-mail: [email protected]
P. Pontarotti (ed.), Evolutionary Biology – Concepts, Molecular and Morphological Evolution, DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-12340-5_15, # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2010
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M.V. Modica and M. Holford
This characterization of the Neogastropoda persists even after contrasting interpretations have been proposed (see e.g., Colgan et al. 2007; Kantor and Fedosov 2009). Strong (2003) has recently provided the most updated report of potential neogastropod synapomorphies. Anatomical characteristics of neogastropods include a very peculiar anterior foregut with a proboscis (pleurembolic or intraembolic), a valve of Leiblein, a gland of Leiblein (or a venom gland in Toxoglossa), paired primary and accessory salivary glands, an anal gland, and several radular peculiarities (Ponder 1973; Kantor 2002; Strong 2003). Figure 15.1 illustrates a generalized scheme of neogastropod anatomy. The order Neogastropoda includes up to 25 families (Bouchet and Rocroi 2005) traditionally split into three superfamilies, Cancellarioidea, Conoidea, and Muricoidea, on the basis of anatomical features of the anterior foregut, including the radula. Cancellarioidea, also called Nematoglossa, comprised of the single family Cancellariidae, is perceived to be the basal offshoot of neogas
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