Independent evolution of terrestriality in Atlantic truncatellid gastropods

Abstract

Phylogenetic analysis of truncatellid gastropods using comparative anatomy and ribosomal RNA sequences shows that terrestrial truncatellids likely evolved three times independently in the Caribbean. The terrestrial subfamily Geomelaniinae, characterized in part by palliai fertilization and uniquely derived features of radula and protoconch, occurs in the Greater Antilles and Cayman Islands. Truncatellinae, with renopericardial fertilization, has several widespread amphibious species and two terrestrial species restricted to Trinidad and Barbados. The species in Barbados may be the most recent animal species to evolve full terrestriality; Barbados emerged above sea level only about one million years ago. By the mid-Cenozoic, truncatellids had traits enabling them to colonize land in appropriate tectonic settings. Parallel trends in character evolution occurred in the terrestrial lineages. In older terrestrial radiations, transitional character states would likely be lost, potentially allowing parallelism to confound phylogenetic analysis of morphological characters.