Tellinoidea siphons (Mollusca: Bivalvia): an anatomical-evolutionary approach

• Grant number: 21/00994-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: December 01, 2021
• End date: March 03, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology - Morphology of Recent Groups
• Principal Investigator: Flávio Dias Passos
• Grantee: Alan Rodrigo Batistão
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biologia (IB). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 18/10313-0 - Build-up of scientific collections of marine invertebrates: strategies for biodiversity conservation, AP.BTA.TEM
• Associated scholarship(s): 22/13918-5 - Molecular phylogeny and siphonal diversity of the superfamily Tellinoidea (Mollusca, Bivalvia), BE.EP.MS

Abstract

In the second great adaptive radiation of Bivalvia (Mollusca), which occurred during the Mesozoic and Cenozoic eras, siphons appeared independently in different taxa. These structures, which are derived from the fusion of the margins of the mantle lobes, allow the infaunal bivalves to have contact with the water column above the substrate when they are buried. Among the siphoned infaunal bivalves, the superfamily Tellinoidea stands out for being one of the most diverse taxa, especially in shallow waters of temperate and tropical regions. In Brazil, 78 of the 500 species of marine bivalves recorded are Tellinoidea. The siphons general morphology of some of these species has already been addressed in works of descriptive and functional anatomy, while the epithelial ultrastructure and tissue configuration is known only to a few species. Considering the importance of siphons in the diversification of many bivalve taxa and the lack of refined anatomical data, that is, the external and internal structure of these organs, the objective of this Master Project is, more broadly, to investigate the ultrastructural and tissue diversity Tellinoidea siphons. This investigation will be conducted by means of comparative anatomy, in order to understand how the phenotypic evolution of these organs is linked to the diversification of the group and to the success of Euheterodonta siphoned in the occupation of the marine bento. These organs will be studied with combined microscopy techniques, such as scanning electron microscopy, confocal microscopy and histology, and the structures will be analyzed later in a phylogenetic context. Thus, it is intended to understand how the structure of the siphons changed over the course of Tellinoidea.

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

BATISTAO, A. R.; AUDINO, J. A.; PASSOS, F. D.. The protobranch Aequiyoldia eightsii (Jay, 1839) (Nuculanida: Sareptidae) reveals uncommon siphonal anatomy among bivalves. Journal of Molluscan Studies, v. 89, n. 3, p. 6-pg., 2023-07-04. (22/12606-0, 21/00994-2, 18/10313-0)