Description
This family exhibits a great diversity in shell morphology but extremely homogeneous anatomical traits. Diversity of shell morphology is linked to substantial eco-phenotypic plasticity. Hubendick (1951) illustrated this point by compiling up to 1143 species names, a large number of which he synonymized. In contrast, the anatomy of their reproductive tracts (including prostate, penis and preputium) is extremely homogeneous. Immunological, cytogenetical, enzyme electrophoresis studies, and DNA-based approaches have demonstrated extensive homoplasy in anatomical characters.
Read more about this topic: Lymnaeidae
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