1 Research Article 2 Early Development of Monoplex pilearis and Monoplex parthenopeus (Gastropoda: 3 Cymatiidae) - Biology and Morphology 4 5 Ashlin H. Turner*, Quentin Kaas, David J. Craik, and Christina I. Schroeder* 6 7 Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, 4072, Qld, Australia 8 9 *Corresponding authors: 10 Email:
[email protected], phone: +61-7-3346-2023 11 Email:
[email protected], phone: +61-7-3346-2021 1 12 Abstract 13 Members of family Cymatiidae have an unusually long planktonic larval life stage (veligers) which 14 allows them to be carried within ocean currents and become distributed worldwide. However, little 15 is known about these planktonic veligers and identification of the larval state of many Cymatiidae 16 is challenging at best. Here we describe the first high-quality scanning electron microscopy images 17 of the developing veliger larvae of Monoplex pilearis and Monoplex parthenopeus (Gastropoda: 18 Cymatiidae). The developing shell of Monoplex veligers was captured by SEM, showing plates 19 secreted to form the completed shell. The incubation time of the two species was recorded and 20 found to be different; M. parthenopeus took 24 days to develop fully and hatch out of the egg 21 capsules, whereas M. pilearis took over a month to leave the egg capsule. Using scanning electron 22 microscopy and geometric morphometrics, the morphology of veliger larvae was compared. No 23 significant differences were found between the shapes of the developing shell between the two 24 species; however, it was found that M. pilearis was significantly larger than M.