(1) IRD, Unité de Recherche Camélia, BP A5, 98848 Nouméa Cedex, New Caledonia (2) IUEM-UBO, UMR CNRS 6539, Place Nicolas Copernic, 29280 Plouzané, France (3) Observatoire Océanologique de Banyuls, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, UMR CNRS 7621, 66650 Banyuls-sur-Mer, France (4) Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 943052115, USA (5) Centre d’Oc...

The genus Natalina Pilsbry, 1893 is a southern African endemic belonging to the Gondwanan family of carnivorous snails, Rhytididae. We present a well-resolved molecular phylogeny of the genus based on the mitochondrial 16S and COI genes and the nuclear ITS2 gene, and assess this in light of Watson's [Watson, H., 1934. Natalina and other South African snails. Proc. Malacol. Soc. Lond. 21, 150-19...

Consummatory feeding behaviors in Aplysia californica are controlled by a polymorphic central pattern generator (CPG) circuit. Previous investigations have demonstrated colocalization of markers for GABA and catecholamines within two interneurons, B20 and B65, that participate in configuring the functional output of this CPG. This study examined the contributions of GABA and dopamine (DA) to ra...

1. In mo9t isolated gastropod nervous systems, presumed feeding motor patterns are thought to be represented by the alternating motor activity in buccal roots, which underlies rhythmic radula movement. Since this movement accompanies several types of behaviour in the gastropod Pleurobranchaea (McClellan, 1979, 1980, 1982), the presumed feeding motor activity in the isolated nervous system of th...

Hostounský Z, Pelc R. Phase-contrast versus off-axis illumination: is a more complex microscope always more powerful? Adv Physiol Educ 31: 232–235, 2007; doi:10.1152/advan.00028.2006.—In this article, a practical demonstration suitable for any biology college classroom is presented. With the examples of a complex biological specimen (slug’s radula) and a simple reference specimen (electron micr...

A kinematic model of the buccal mass of Aplysia californica during swallowing has been developed that incorporates the kinematics of the odontophore, the muscular structure that underlies the pincer-like grasping structure, the radula. The model is based on real-time magnetic resonance images (MRIs) of the mid-sagittal cross section of the buccal mass during swallowing. Using kinematic relation...