The interrelationships of three patella species on the south coast of Britain

Abstract

There are three limpet species of the genus Patella found on the south coast of Britain, namely P. vulgata, P. intermedia and P, aspera. In 1935 Ronald G. Evans, working on the south coast, observed that in western regions such as Cornwall the limpets possessed distinctive specific features and can be easily separated into three species. However as one moves eastwards along the coast the population becomes more variable until, on the Isle Of Wight, one can observe 'transitional' forms possessing characters of two or more species thus making classification very difficult. The two main theories that have been put forward to explain this phenomenon are firstly that the three species have evolved from a common vulgata-like root-stock and that, for some reason, complete separation has not been achieved in certain areas, and secondly that the 'transitional' forms are in fact the result of hybridisation. The purpose of this work was to discover which of these two explanations seems the most likely.

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