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1. 1 Nautilus and Allonautilus: Two Decades of Progress W. Bruce Saunders Department of Geology Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr PA 19010 wsaunder@brynmawr. edu Neil H. Landman Division of Paleontology American Museum of Natural History New York, New York 10024 landman@amnh. org When Nautilus: Biology and Paleobiology of a Living Fossil was published in 1987, it marked a milestone in cross-disciplinary collaboration. More than half of the contributing authors (36/65) were paleontologists, many of whom were collaborating with neontological counterparts. Their interest in studying this reclusive, poorly known animal was being driven by a search for clues to the mode of life and natural history of the once dominant shelled cephalopods, through study of the sole surviving genus. At the same time, Nautilus offered an opportunity for neontologists to look at a fundamentally different, phylogenetically basal member of the extant Cephalopoda. It was a w- win situation, combining paleontological deep-time perspectives, old fashioned expeditionary zeal, traditional biological approaches and new techniques. The results were cross-fertilized investigations in such disparate fields as ecology, functional morphology, taphonomy, genetics, phylogeny, locomotive dynamics, etc. As one reviewer of the xxxvi Introduction xxxvii book noted, Nautilus had gone from being one of the least known to one of the best understood of living cephalopods.
List of contents
Nautilus Studies-The First Twenty-Two Centuries.- Nautilus Studies-The First Twenty-Two Centuries.- The Ancestry of the Genus Nautilus.- The Ancestry of the Genus Nautilus.- Nautilus and Its Distribution.- The Species of Nautilus.- Geographic Distribution of Nautilus Shells.- Genetic Variation and Phylogeny in Nautilus.- Morphological Variation in Nautilus from Papua New Guinea.- Biometrie Analysis of Nautilus pompilius from the Philippines and the Fiji Islands.- Biomineralization and Systematic Implications.- Ecology.- Ecology, Distribution, and Population Characteristics of Nautilus.- Incidence and Kinds of Epizoans on the Shells of Live Nautilus.- On the Habitat of Nautilus pompilius in Tañon Strait (Philippines) and the Fiji Islands.- Predation on Nautilus.- Physiology.- The Central Nervous System.- The Sense Organs of Nautilus.- Visual Behavior and Visual Sensitivity of Nautilus pompilius.- A Possible Function of the Iris Groove of Nautilus.- Histology of the Long Digital Tentacles.- The Functional Morphology of the Tentacle Musculature of Nautilus pompilius.- The Circulatory System.- The Excretory System of Nautilus.- Respiratory Physiology.- Mouth Part Histology and Morphology.- Metabolism.- Energy Metabolism of Nautilus Swimming Muscles.- Oxygen Conformity and Metabolic Arrest in Nautilus.- Ventilation and Oxygen Extraction by Nautilus.- Reproduction and Growth.- Reproduction and Embryology of Nautilus.- Development of the Embryonic Shell of Nautilus.- Growth and Longevity of Nautilus.- Adolescent Growth and Maturity in Nautilus.- The Shell and Its Architecture.- Nautilus Shell Architecture.- Ultrastructure of the Nautilus Shell.- Swimming and Buoyancy.- Locomotion of Nautilus.- Nautilus Shell Hydrostatics.- Buoyancy in Nautilus.- Aquarium Maintenance.-Collection and Aquarium Maintenance of Nautilus.- Experience with Aquarium Rearing of Nautilus in Japan.- A Small, Closed Aquarium System for Nautilus.
About the author
W. Bruce Saunders is Professor, Department of Geology, Bryn Mawr College. He has studied Nautilus for over 30 years, including field work in the Indo-Pacific, especially Palau and Papua New Guinea. He has worked on the ecology, habitat, and life history of Nautilus, and discovered the first living populations of Allonautilus scrobiculatus.
Neil H. Landman is Curator, Division of Paleontology (Invertebrates), American Museum of Natural History. He is an expert on shelled cephalopods including Nautilus and ammonites and the co-editor of the books Cephalopods Present and Past-New Insights and Fresh Perspectives (2007), and Ammonite Paleobiology (1996), both published by Springer.