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Autotomy Of The Posterior Foot In Agaronia Propatula (Caenogastropoda: Olividae) Occurs In Animals That Are Fully Withdrawn Into Their Shells, Samantha D. Rupert, Winfried S. Peters
Autotomy Of The Posterior Foot In Agaronia Propatula (Caenogastropoda: Olividae) Occurs In Animals That Are Fully Withdrawn Into Their Shells, Samantha D. Rupert, Winfried S. Peters
Winfried S. Peters
This paper has no abstract; this is the first paragraph. Autotomy is the active shedding of a body part which occurs in a variety of emergency situations including attacks by predators (Stasek, 1967; McVean, 1975; Maginnis, 2006). The immediate advantage of autotomy – surviving an otherwise deadly attack – comes at a price, which may include physical, energetic, behavioural and reproductive costs (Cooper, 2003; Maginnis, 2006). While the evolutionary and ecological consequences of autotomy have been studied most thoroughly in lizards (Clause & Capaldi, 2006; Bateman & Fleming, 2009), the phenomenon also is known from numerous invertebrate taxa, where it …