In collaboration with Rick Grosberg, I am using microsatellites to examine potential conflict between parents and between siblings in this marine snail. After mating, females deposit egg cases on their mate's shell, and the males carry this burden (which can exceed 50% of the male's wet mass) until the eggs hatch. Some eggs within the case hatch before others, and these embryos appear to consume many of the unhatched eggs before exiting the case. We have cloned several polymorphic microsatellite markers and are using them to examine the parentage of young within the egg case. This will allow us to determine 1) if females deposit eggs that have been fertilized by other males on the shells of their mates, 2) if males carry egg cases from multiple females, and 3) if early-hatching embryos preferentially cannibalize less related half-sibs rather than full siblings.Some other photos:
A male Solenosteira in the field.
Solenosteira habitat. A mud flat in Puerto Penasco, Mexico.
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