The courtship behavior of the brown garden snail, Cantareus aspersus , includes a bizarre component where one snail attempts to pierce its mating partner with a sharp, calcareous dart that is covered with mucus. In vitro, the mucus causes conformational changes to the reproductive tract causing sperm to be stored rather than digested. In addition, successful dart shooters have an increased relative paternity compared to unsuccessful shooters. I have tested whether this increased paternity is caused by the mucus delivered on the dart or by the mechanical action of the dart. Mating trials were conducted using dartless and glandless snails, where a future mother was mated to two different potential fathers, receiving an injection of mucus with one mating, and an injection of saline with the second mating. The fathers accompanied by the mucus injection sired significantly more offspring than the fathers accompanied by the saline injection. I conclude that the mucus carried on the dart is responsible for increased paternity levels in Cantareus aspersus.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.97909 |
| Date | January 2005 |
| Creators | Blanchard, Katrina C. |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Science (Department of Biology.) |
| Rights | © Katrina C. Blanchard, 2005 |
| Relation | alephsysno: 002487699, proquestno: AAIMR24619, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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