Mollusks are a highly diverse phylum (Mollusca) of invertebrate animals that constitute a major topic in zoology and evolutionary biology, encompassing classes such as Gastropoda, Bivalvia, and Cephalopoda. They are characterized by a soft, unsegmented body typically organized into head, visceral mass, and muscular foot, with many species secreting a calcareous shell from a specialized mantle. Research on mollusks addresses themes including biomineralization, neurobiology (especially in cephalopods), developmental and evolutionary genetics, functional morphology of feeding and locomotion, ecological roles in marine and freshwater systems, and their importance as model organisms in environmental toxicology and climate-change impact studies.
A team of researchers from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens has discovered a completely new genus and species of subterranean freshwater snail in the Peloponnese region of southern Greece. The species, Cyllena ...
Plants & Animals
Jul 16, 2026
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A study published in the journal Biological Invasions indicates that Brazil currently has at least 82 non-native mollusk species, in addition to 13 whose origin cannot be determined. This represents a 215% increase compared ...
Plants & Animals
Jul 1, 2026
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How does a stripy tree snail hide from hungry birds? The Hypselostyla camelopardalis from the Philippines and Reinia variegata from Japan have both evolved a form of dynamic camouflage to survive. Their light-colored patterns ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 30, 2026
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Researchers have identified a severe outbreak of a rare contagious cancer in soft-shell clams in Washington state's Puget Sound and found evidence that the disease was recently introduced to the Pacific Northwest from Atlantic ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 24, 2026
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An international team of scientists led by Dr. Graciela Delvene of the Geological and Mining Institute of Spain (CSIC) has uncovered the oldest known evidence of maternal care in shellfish, revealing that some freshwater ...
Evolution
Jun 22, 2026
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Interactions between hard-shelled marine mollusks such as clams and snails and their predators play a critical but largely unseen role in shaping coastal ecosystems. These organisms help stabilize shorelines, filter water ...
Ecology
Jun 3, 2026
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Octopuses are remarkably intelligent creatures, as was demonstrated by Inky the Octopus's famous escape from the National Aquarium of New Zealand through a drainpipe back to sea in 2016. A new Dartmouth study shows octopuses ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 3, 2026
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Black abalone once carpeted the rocky shores of California by the millions. The large, long-lived sea snails sustained Indigenous peoples along the coast for thousands of years, anchored a thriving 20th-century commercial ...
Evolution
Jun 3, 2026
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Translucent, speckled, and barely the size of a grain of rice, a new species of sea slug has been identified in the coastal waters of Keelung, Taiwan. Because of its minute size and distinctive black and yellow markings, ...
Plants & Animals
May 26, 2026
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Researchers have uncovered a remarkable fossil site in a remote part of Canada's Northwest Territories, offering unprecedented insight into the earliest evolution of complex animal life on Earth. Findings from the site represent ...
Evolution
May 20, 2026
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