PRESENTED BY-

DEBJYOTI BHADRA
ROLL NO-14
ST
1 SEMESTER
DEPARTMENT OF ZOOLOGY
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH BENGAL
 Neopilina belongs to the phylum Mollusca.
 Mollusca is an enormous taxon.
 There are probably 1,00,000 described species of recent molluscs.
 Phylum mollusca includes the taxa –
 Aplacophora
 Polyplacophora
 Monoplacophora
 Gastropoda
 Cephalopoda
 Bivalvia
 Scaphopoda
 Neopilina belongs to a group of molluscs known as
Monoplacophora
 Monoplacophorans are among the rarest members of the
phylum Mollusca.
 They were common in the early Paleozoic and were
thought to have become extinct in the Devonian Period.
 In 1952, 10 living specimens of Neopilina galatheae were
dredged from a depth of 3,500 meters off the Pacific Coast
of Costa Rica (Mexico) during the Galathea Expedition.
 The species Neopilina galatheae was first reported by Dr.
Henning Lemche.
 The habitat of Neopilina is widespread.

 They have been found in the Pacific Ocean,

Indian Ocean, Gulf of Aden and the Antarctic
Ocean.

 They reside in the abyssal depth of sea floor.

 Mantle secretes a single, large, cup shaped,
bilateral shell.

 The shell is covered by thin Periostracum.

 Under the periostracum there are two shell

layers –
a) prismatic shell layer
b) nacreous shell layer
 Five pairs of well developed gills are situated
on the pallial groove lateral to the foot.

 Each gill consists of a series of 7-8 lamellae.

 Ventral surface carries a broad, flat,circular
foot which helps them in locomotion.

 They are evidentally meant for clinging and

creeping.

 The pedal gland produces mucus which is

necessary for creeping.
 The digestive system of Neopilina is quite
interesting.

 Inside the buccal cavity there is a long and

coiled subradular organ or radular sac,
containing a well developed food rasping
organ which is known as radula.
 What is living fossil ?
 The term living fossil usually describes a taxon that
appears little change in its initial appearance from the
time it is known and resembles closely to its ancestor.
 These taxa typically have survived a large portion of
geological time.
 Neopilina have retained the primitive chracters of
their fossil ancestors. They have retained the same
shell configuration and shell musculature to that of
their fossil ancestors. Thus, it can be regarded as a
living fossil.
 Neopilina differs from the other living molluscs in
that it is internally metamerically segmented.
 Some of the organs (kidneys, heart and gills)
were repeated.
 Possible missing link between annelids and
molluscs.
 Exhibits spiral cleavage and identical
trochophore larva.
 Neopilina does not show external metamerism
as there is a single shell and a single foot without
any segmentation.

 Internal metamerism of Neopilina is quite

irregular. Metameric structures differ in
sequence and number. Thus the apparent
metamerism of Neopilina cannot be compared
with that of the classical metamerism of
annelida.
 Neopilina is the only living representative of class
Monoplacophora. All its contemporary relatives have
become extinct. Due to the retention of the primitive
characters from its ancestor it is regarded as the “living
fossil”.
 Several lines of evidence suggests that the
monoplacophorans appear to be primitive because many
of their system exhibits a developmental state referred to
as paedomorphosis. It is the retention of ancestral juvenile
characters by the later ontogenetic stages of descendants.
On the other hand, new descendant characters are
produced by additions to the ancestral ontogeny by the
process of peramorphosis (Gould, 1977).
 There is an affinity between Mollusca and Annelida as
both of them exhibit spiral cleavage and identical
trochophore larva. But, this does not prove that Mollusca
have evolved from Annelida rather it may reflect a
common ancestory. It is likely that the two groups have
diverged from the common ancestor before the molluscan
characters or the annelidan characters had evolved.

 Additional fossil specimens have also been discovered and

what once thought to be the possible missing link
between annelids and molluscs, now appears to be a
highly specialized branch of the molluscan tree.
THANK