RESEARCH ARTICLE Reproductive biology of the encapsulating, brooding gastropod Crepipatella dilatata Lamarck (Gastropoda, Calyptraeidae) 1 1,2 3 1,4 Oscar R. ChaparroID *, VõÂctor M. Cubillos , Jaime A. Montory , Jorge M. Navarro , Paola V. Andrade-VillagraÂn5 1 Instituto de Ciencias Marinas y LimnoloÂgicas, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia, Chile, 2 Laboratorio de Recursos AcuaÂticos y Costeros de Calfuco, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia, Chile, 3 Centro i~mar, Universidad de Los Lagos, Puerto Montt, Chile, 4 Centro Fondap de InvestigacioÂn DinaÂmica de Ecosistemas Marinos de Altas Latitudes (IDEAL), Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia, Chile, 5 Centro de InvestigacioÂn a1111111111 en Biodiversidad y Ambientes Sustentables (CIBAS), Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad CatoÂlica de la a1111111111 SantõÂsima ConcepcioÂn, ConcepcioÂn, Chile a1111111111 a1111111111 *
[email protected] a1111111111 Abstract Among calyptraeid gastropods, males become females as they get older, and egg capsules OPEN ACCESS containing developing embryos are maintained beneath the mother's shell until the encap- Citation: Chaparro OR, Cubillos VM, Montory JA, sulated embryos hatch. Crepipatella dilatata is an interesting biological model considering  Navarro JM, Andrade-Villagran PV (2019) that is an estuarine species and thus periodically exposed to elevated environment-physio- Reproductive biology of the encapsulating, brooding gastropod Crepipatella dilatata Lamarck logical pressures. Presently, there is not much information about the reproductive biology (Gastropoda, Calyptraeidae). PLoS ONE 14(7): and brooding parameters of this gastropod. This paper describes field and laboratory obser- e0220051. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal. vations monitoring sex changes, brooding frequencies, sizes of brooding females, egg pone.0220051 mass characteristics, and embryonic hatching conditions. Our findings indicate that C.