期刊名称：Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
印刷版ISSN：0027-8424
电子版ISSN：1091-6490
出版年度：1984
卷号：81
期号：3
页码：811-813
DOI：10.1073/pnas.81.3.811
语种：English
出版社：The National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
摘要：The periwinkle Littorina littorea exhibits morphological variation among southern New England populations that appear to be genetically continuous. In dense populations, individuals have relatively elongate shells in comparison to individuals in sparse populations, which have rounder, globose shells. We experimentally demonstrate that this shell variation is a function of snail growth rate. Rapidly growing snails develop thin, globose shells that accommodate more body mass than thicker, more elongate shells. The implications of these results are discussed in relation to interpreting morphological variation in extant gastropods and in the molluscan fossil record.
