Terrestrial gastropods - how do they reproduce?

• Main Authors: K S Zajac, P E Kramarz
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: University of Modena and Reggio Emilia 2017-05-01
• Series: Invertebrate Survival Journal
• Subjects: copulation; mating; oviposition; reproductive systems; sequential hermaphrodite; simultaneous hermaphrodite
• Online Access: https://isj02.unimore.it/index.php/ISJ/article/view/40

Molluscs are the most diverse group in respect of sexual systems and strategies. They can be dioecious with separate sexes or hermaphroditic. Within hermaphroditism, it is possible to distinguish a number of modifications of this type of reproduction, such as protandry, protogyny, sex reversal, or protandry with some overlap. It is thought that dioecy was ancestral because it occurs in most classes of molluscs. Hermaphroditism evolved independently several times, and sequential and simultaneous hermaphroditism are more closely related to each other than to dioecy. This publication presents a general review of sexual systems and strategies in terrestrial gastropods with special emphasis on mating, fertilization, presence of love darts, reproductive strategies (semelparity vs. iteroparity) and modes (oviparity, ovoviviparity, viviparity), production of eggs and egg cannibalism.