Ancestors of Aplysia

May 28, 2002
From: Stephen Hoskins

Dear Bill,
Are you aware of any published pictures or computer projections of the earliest Aplysia?
Many thanks.
Stephen.

SRH@4TheNet.co.uk

Hoskins, S., 2002 (May 28) Ancestors of Aplysia. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/7072

Dear Stephen,
I am not aware of any 'reconstructions' of ancestral Sea Hares, which I guess is what you are asking about. The earliest Aplysia, by definition, would have the characters we consider are common to the genus today, such as body shape, parapodial flaps, reduced partially internal shell etc. If we want some clues about an ancestral sea hare we can find some of them in Akera, which has an external shell. Most features of its external anatomy though, gizzard plates, purple gland and reproductive system are very similar to species of Aplysia.

We have to be careful in thinking of Akera as being 'ancestral.' Since it is alive today it is as old or as modern as any other Sea Hare. What we can say is that its external shell is almost certainly a character it has retained from a common ancestor. In other Sea Hares the shell has become a flattened, partially internal plate, usually - but not always- very poorly calcified
best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2002 (May 28). Comment on Ancestors of Aplysia by Stephen Hoskins. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/7072

Factsheet

What are Sea Hares?

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