Reproduction in the Malayan freshwater cerithiacean gastropod Melanoides tuberculata

Abstract

Melanoides tuberculata in the Kuala Lumpur area of Malaysia were found to be entirely female, reproducing parthenogenetically. The reproductive system is extremely simple in structure and histology, lacking all the glandular developments common in most mesogastropods. Eggs pass into a cephalic brood‐pouch where they develop to juveniles of 5–6 shell whorls before emergence. Numbers of developing young in the brood‐pouches increased with shell height of the parents except for a decline in the few very largest snails. The highest brood‐pouch count was 265, but average counts were much lower. 85 % of developing young in the brood‐pouches were very early stages from eggs to embryos of one whorl only, perhaps implying that many eggs fail to develop successfully to young snails. Three localities studied yielded consistently different brood‐pouch counts, implying variation in fecundity. Juveniles emerge from the brood‐pouch most commonly between nightfall and midnight and normal emergence seems to require diurnal alternation of light and dark. In continuous darkness, brood‐pouch counts increased markedly, perhaps as a result of greater activity and feeding during darkness. Several features of the reproductive biology suggest that Melanoides might become a useful experimental animal in freshwater studies.