Osphradium
Appearance
The osphradium is an olfactory organ in certain molluscs, linked with the respiration organ. The main function of this organ is thought to be to test incoming water for silt and possible food particles.
It is a popular idea among malacologists that the presence of an osphradium should be a molluscan synapomorphy. However, an osphradium is absent in monoplacophorans and scaphopods.[1]
References
- ^ Ponder, Winston F.; Lindberg, David R. (1997). "Towards a phylogeny of gastropod molluscs: An analysis using morphological characters". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 119 (2): 83–265. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.1997.tb00137.x.
External links
- Hulbert G. C. E. B. & Yonge C. M. (1937). "A Possible Function of the Osphradium in the Gastropoda". Nature 139: 840-841. doi:10.1038/139840b0.
- Brown A. C. & Noble R. G. (1960). "Function of the Osphradium in Bullia (Gastropoda)". Nature 188: 1045-1045. doi:10.1038/1881045a0.