Some Aspects of the Morphology and Relationships of Volutacean Gastropods

Abstract

The Neogastropoda is a particularly large and conspicuous group containing several important families. The group is, with a few exceptions, carnivorous, and it is the alimentary canal that shows the most interesting modifications. The morphology of several of these families is practically unknonw so that their systematic position is based mainly on radular and shell features. The aim of this thesis is to present an account of the morphology of some members of a few of these families, and from this to try and re-evaluate their relationships to one another and to the remainder of the Neogastropoda.