Geographical variation in shell shape of the pod razor shell Ensis siliqua (Bivalvia: Pharidae)

The present study assessed the existence of variation in the shell shape of the pod razor shell (Ensis siliqua) throughout its distributional range in the north- eastern Atlantic. Shells of E. siliqua caught at seven collecting sites (three in Portugal, three in Spain and one in Ireland) were studied by geometric morphometric methods, using both landmark- and contour-based methods. Both approaches (landmarks inside the valves and shell outline) discriminated the shells from Aveiro (centre of Portugal) and Strangford Lough (Ireland) from those caught in the nearby localities (remaining Portuguese and Spanish sites,maximum distance of 550 km by sea). Landmark analysis revealed that shells from Aveiro were more similar to shells from Ireland (*1,500 km far away). Contour anal- ysis revealed that shells from Aveiro had a shape with a comparatively larger height-to-width ratio, whereas shells from Ireland showed a slightly more curved outline than in the remaining sites. Landmark- and contour-based methods provided coherent complementary information, confirming the usefulness of geometric morphometric analyses for discerning differences in shell shape among populations of E. siliqua. A brief review of previous applications of geometric morphometric methods to modern bivalve spe- cies is also provided.The authors would like to thank Dr. Dai Roberts and Adele Cromie for providing samples of pod razor shells from Ireland. This study was funded by Community Initiative Programmes (INTERREG-IIIB, Atlantic Area) Sustainable HARvesting of Ensis (090–SHARE) and Towards Integrated Management of Ensis Stocks (206–TIMES) from the European Community. Marta M. Rufino and Paulo Vasconcelos benefited from postdoctoral grants (SFRH/BPD/14935/2004 and SFRH/BPD/26348/2006, respectively) awarded by the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT—Portugal). Finally, the authors acknowledge three anonymous referees for valuable comments and suggestions that greatly improved the revised manuscript.publishe

The Impact of State Abortion Policies on Teen Pregnancy Rates

Restrictive abortion policies, Teen pregnancy rates,

Mature Modifications and Sexual Dimorphism

Allometric growth between different parts of the shell often hampers the identification of mollusk shells, particularly in such cases where preadult shell growth varies strongly. Especially in gastropods, the terminal aperture is often less variable and yields morphological information essential for species determination (e.g. Vermeij 1993; Urdy et al. 2010a, b). In fossil mollusk shells, the adult aperture (peristome)is often missing, partially due to an early death, and partially due to destructive processes, which occurred post mortem (taphonomy). Therefore, the entire shell ontogeny is known only from a small fraction of all ammonoid taxa (e.g., Landman et al. 2012). Nevertheless, knowledge of the adult shell of ammonoids is very important since it can yield morphological information essential for systematics and for the reconstruction of various aspects of their paleobiology