Abstract Seasonal changes in prevalence rate and number of the epizoic limpet Lottia tenuisculpta on its gastropod hosts, Omphalius nigerrimus and Reishia clavigera, were investigated in Shirahama, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan. Monthly samplings conducted from September 2013 to September 2014 revealed that L. tenuisculpta disappeared from the host in winter and new recruits appeared in early spring. Limpets remained on their host up to a critical shell length of 7 mm on O. nigerrimus and 5 mm on R. clavigera. Capture-recapture method confirmed limpets reaching these sizes migrate onto rock surfaces. Additionally, the effects of the host sizes on their epizoic limpets were examined using a hierarchical Bayesian model. The model showed that limpet shell length decreased with the increasing number of conspecifics on both host species. The shell width of O. nigerrimus had a slightly negative effect on the shell length of limpets, whereas that of R. clavigera had a positive effect on it. Our study revealed the host utilization of epizoic limpets changed seasonally and differed between host species. We suggest that both physical and biological factors of hosts affect the growth, survival, and attachment of the epizoites.

中文翻译：

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生代帽贝 Lottia tenuisculpta (Gastropoda: Patellogastropoda) 对两种蜗牛寄主的季节性利用模式

摘要 在日本和歌山县白浜市调查了腹足动物宿主 Omphalius nigerrimus 和 Reishia clavigera 的流行性帽贝 Lottia tenuisculpta 流行率和数量的季节性变化。从 2013 年 9 月到 2014 年 9 月进行的每月抽样显示，L. tenuisculpta 在冬季从宿主中消失，而新成员则在早春出现。在 O. nigerrimus 和 R. clavigera 上，帽贝保留在宿主上的临界壳长度为 7 毫米。捕获-再捕获方法证实达到这些尺寸的帽贝迁移到岩石表面。此外，使用分层贝叶斯模型检查了宿主大小对其上生期帽贝的影响。该模型表明，帽贝壳长度随着两种宿主物种同种数量的增加而减少。O. nigerrimus 的壳宽对帽贝的壳长有轻微的负面影响，而 R. clavigera 的壳宽对其有积极的影响。我们的研究表明，表生界帽贝的宿主利用随季节而变化，并且在宿主物种之间有所不同。我们认为宿主的物理和生物因素都会影响表生体的生长、存活和附着。