Sequential Pathways in the Mating Behavior of the Apple Snail Pomacea canaliculata (Caenogastropoda: Ampullariidae)

Abstract

Pomacea canaliculata is the most studied ampullarid in many aspects of reproductive biology, such as environmental factors trigger-ing reproduction (Albrecht et al., 1999, 2005), functional properties of eggs (Heras et al., 2007), reproductive strategy and effort (Este-benet & Cazzaniga, 1993; Estoy et al., 2002b), and size and age at which maturity is reached (Estoy et al., 2002a; Tamburi & Martín, 2009). Surprisingly, though, the current knowledge on the details of mating behavior is scarce.