Skip Navigation


Integrative and Comparative Biology Advance Access originally published online on August 30, 2006
Integrative and Comparative Biology 2006 46(6):827-837; doi:10.1093/icb/icl032
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
46/6/827    most recent
icl032v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (2)
Right arrow Request Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Reitzel, A. M.
Right arrow Articles by Finnerty, J. R.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© 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.

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

Adam M. Reitzel1, James C. Sullivan and John R. Finnerty
Department of Biology, Boston University 5 Cummington Street, Boston, MA 02215, USA

Correspondence: 1E-mail: reitzel{at}bu.edu

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.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Integr. Comp. Biol.Home page
J. Hodin
Expanding networks: Signaling components in and a hypothesis for the evolution of metamorphosis
Integr. Comp. Biol., December 1, 2006; 46(6): 719 - 742.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.