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Integrative and Comparative Biology Advance Access published online on August 30, 2006
Integrative and Comparative Biology, doi:10.1093/icb/icl032
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© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology. All rights reserved. For permissions please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org.

Metamorphosis: A Multikingdom Approach

Qualitative shift to indirect development in the parasitic sea anemone Edwardsiella lineata

Adam M. Reitzel 1 *, James C. Sullivan 1, and John R. Finnerty 1
1 Department of Biology, Boston University, 5 Cummington Street, Boston, MA 02215, USA

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Adam M. Reitzel, E-mail: reitzel{at}bu.edu


  Abstract

Synopsis Direct development lies at 1 end of a continuum that encompasses various degrees of indirect development. Indirect development exists where a larval stage is interposed between the embryo and the adult and undergoes metamorphosis, though the ecological and morphological distinctiveness of the larval stage relative to the adult stage can vary tremendously. There are numerous empirical examples where direct development has evolved from indirect development, but little empirical evidence describing a recent transition from direct to indirect development. Here, we suggest 4 criteria for defining indirect, and therefore metamorphic, life histories. We then apply these criteria to address the planula-polyp transition in cnidarians, focusing on 2 species in the anthozoan family Edwardsiidae. The lined sea anemone, Edwardsiella lineata, has made a qualitative shift towards indirect development that coincides with, and was potentially facilitated by, the evolution of endoparasitism. We compare E. lineata's development with that of a closely related sea anemone, Nematostella vectensis, where the nonfeeding planula gradually develops the morphology of the adult polyp. In E. lineata, a novel parasitic life history stage is interposed between the planula and the polyp. We discuss how the evolution of endoparasitism could facilitate the evolution metamorphic life histories.

From the symposium "Metamorphosis: A Multikingdom Approach" presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, January 4-8, 2006, at Orlando, Florida.
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