Abstract
The effect of predation on evolutionary rates is controversial; intense predation has been hypothesized both to increase and decrease rates of prey evolution. Predation by naticid gastropods on five genera of Chesapeake Group bivalves apparently affected rates of prey evolution. Prey shell thickness and internal volume, which influence naticid prey preference, showed greater rates of intra‐ and interspecific evolution than did characters less closely related to predation. In addition, rates of long‐term, usually gradual, thickness change were greater for preferred prey than for taxa that experienced less predation. Internal volume, which evolved episodically, did not exhibit a close relationship between rate of change and predation intensity.
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