Transcript All About Banana Slugs John Pearse and Jan Leonard University of California, Santa Cruz Habitat Food Color Predators Distribution Taxonomy and Sex and sexual selection UCSC Banana Slug Genomics class 1 April 2015

All About Banana Slugs
John Pearse and Jan Leonard
University of California, Santa Cruz
Habitat
Food
Color
Predators
Distribution
Taxonomy
and
Sex and sexual
selection
UCSC Banana Slug Genomics class
1 April 2015
1988
WIDE RANGE OR HABITATS
CONIFER FORESTS
Mount Palomar, San Diego County
OPEN WOODLANDS
Oroville, Butte County
DRY-LAND SPRINGS
McLaughlin Reserve,
Napa County
Pacific Grove,
Monterey County
What do slugs eat?
Lab:
lettuce
yams
mushrooms
zucchini
beans
apples
cat food
hamburger
milk
Field:
mushrooms
green shoots
sorrel
ferns
ice plants
hemlock
milkweed
poison oak
humus soil
feces
Slug colors - camouflage?
predators
Fremont Peak, San Benito County
Slug colors - camouflage?
predators
But who are the predators?
garter snakes
salamanders and newts
birds and small mammals
carnivorous snails and slugs
Fremont Peak, San Benito County
+
Distribution
of
Major clademajor
distributi
clades of
Ariolimax
+
What aboutItsex
is all about sex!
Simultaneous hermaphrodites
Complex mating behavior
Copulate - internal fertilization
or
Don’t copulate but self
Eggs laid underground
1-2 month development
Hatch as small juveniles.
A.Epiphallus
californicus dissection
Penis
Vas deferens
Ovotestes
Vagina
muscle
Albumen
gland
Digestive gland
Spermatheca
Ovisperm duct
(Common duct)
Ariolimax M. californicus
Ariolimax Meadarion californicus
A.
californicus
genitalia
Epiphallus
Penis
retractor
muscle
Albumen gland
Ovotestes
Fertilization
chamber
Common duct
(ovisperm duct)
Penis sheath
Oviduct
Vas deferens
(sperm duct)
Seminal vesicle
Vagina
Vagina muscle
Genital opening
Mead 1943
Ariolimax Ariolimax
columbianus/
buttoni
stramineus
Genitalia - all
californicus
Ariolimax Meadarion
brachyphallus
dolichophallus
From Mead 1943
8
Ariolimax species
Morphologically
Distinct
7
cladogr
am
CO1-16S-CytB Neighbor-joining cladogram
Molecularly
indistinct
6
5
4
3
2
Molecularly
Distinct
Morphologically
indistinct
1
NO PENIS! --- either Aphallate or Apophallate
Ovispern duct
(common duct)
Oviduct
Vas deferens
Vagina
Ariolimax M. californicus
What we know about apophallation
1. Very rare event, perhaps not in all species.
2. Self apophallation as well as partner apophallation.
3. Some individuals born without a penis.
4. Selfing occurs; isolated individuals produce offspring.
5. Copulation not necessary for reproduction.