Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Macrostructure and evolution of the digestive system in Echinoida (Echinodermata)

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Zoomorphology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The structure of the digestive system in Echinoida has long been puzzling since comparative studies have suggested that a derived structure, the siphon, has apparently evolved twice independently. New observations on the digestive system in five species of Cidaroida, four species of the Diadematoida and three species of Echinothurioida are presented. The results show that the four diadematoid species have a siphon and the three species of Echinothurioida have a siphonal groove, contrary to previous assertions. These observations make the macrostructure of the echinoid digestive system fully consistent with more recent phylogenetic hypotheses based on molecular and general morphological data, and support the idea that a siphon has evolved only once, in the stem lineage of the Acroechinoidea.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Buchanan JB (1969) Feeding and the control of volume within the test of regular sea-urchins. J Zool Lond 159:51–64

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cavey MJ, Märkel K (1994) Echinoidea. In: Harrison FW, Chia F (eds) Microscopic anatomy of invertebrates, Echinodermata, vol 14. Wiley/Liss, New York, pp 345–400

    Google Scholar 

  • Cuénot L (1948) Anatomie, éthologie et systématique des Echinodermes. In: Grassé PP (ed) Traité de Zoologie, vol 11. Masson, Paris, pp 3–363

    Google Scholar 

  • De Ridder C, Jangoux M (1982) Digestive systems: Echinoidea. In: Jangoux M, Lawrence JM (eds) Echinoderm nutrition. A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam, pp 213–234

    Google Scholar 

  • Durham JW, Melville RV (1957) A classification of echinoids. J Paleontol 31(1):242–272

    Google Scholar 

  • Grimstone AV, Skaer RJ (1972) A guidebook to microscopical methods. Cambridge University Press, London, 134p

    Google Scholar 

  • Holland ND, Ghiselin MT (1970) A comparative study of gut mucous cells in thirty-seven species of the class Echinoidea (Echinodermata). Biol Bull 138:286–305

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hyman LH (1955) The invertebrates: Echinodermata, the coelomate Bilateria, vol IV. McGraw-Hill, New York, 763p

    Google Scholar 

  • Kier PM (1974) Evolutionary trends and their functional significance in the post-palaeozoic echinoids. J Paleontol 48(Suppl.3):1–95

    Google Scholar 

  • Lawrence JM (1987) A functional biology of echinoderms. John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 340p

    Google Scholar 

  • Littlewood DTJ, Smith AB (1995) A combined morphological and molecular phylogeny for sea urchins (Echinoidea: Echinodermata). Philos Trans R Soc Lond B 347:213–234

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Prouho M (1885) Sur quelques points de l’anatomie des Cidaridae du genre Dorocidaris. C R Acad Sci Paris 100:124–126

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith AB (1984) Echinoid paleobiology. George Allen & Unwin, London, 190p

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith AB, Littlewood DTJ, Wray GA (1995) Comparing patterns of evolution: larval and adult life history stages and ribosomal RNA of post-Palaeozoic echinoids. Philos Trans R Soc Lond 349:11–18

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith AB, Pisani D, Mackenzie-Dodds JA, Stockley B, Webster BL, Littlewood TJ (2006) Testing the molecular clock: molecular and paleontological estimates of divergence times in the Echinoidea (Echinodermata). Mol Biol Evol 23(10):1832–1851

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Stott FC (1955) The food canal of the sea urchin Echinus esculentus L. and its functions. Proc Zool Soc Lond 125:63–85

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

A CAPES (Brazilian Government Funding Agency) Ph.D. grant, and a 10-week Smithsonian Postgraduate Fellowship granted in 1989 made this work possible. Dr. C. M. Young is thanked for generous provision of samples on his cruises to the Bahamas. Lucia Campos is grateful to Dr. Margit Jensen for her assistance and useful discussions during her visit to the Zoologisk Museum, Copenhagen. Drs. John Lawrence, Nelson Papavero, Andrew Smith, Thomas Bartolomaeus and Alexander Ziegler, and the anonymous reviewers are thanked for their useful comments and suggestions.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Zoologia, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Av.Pau Brasil, 211, Cidade Universitária, Ilha do Fundão, Rio de Janeiro, CEP 21941-590, Brazil

    Lucia S. Campos & Rafael B. Moura

Authors
  1. Lucia S. Campos
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Rafael B. Moura
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lucia S. Campos.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Campos, L.S., Moura, R.B. Macrostructure and evolution of the digestive system in Echinoida (Echinodermata). Zoomorphology 127, 135–141 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00435-008-0058-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00435-008-0058-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation