What’s up guys, after a successful conference up in Exeter, yours truly rides east on the 11:40 to Paddington, ready for the upcoming week of surveys and report writing. Last week we met Pioma cthulhu and saw the horrors that lurk in the caverns of our world. This issue features another terror, sliding towards us at a break neck pace. Hope you guys enjoy…
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Issue #64 – Rosy Wolf Snail
Kingdom – Animalia
Phylum – Mollusca
Class – Gastropoda
[Clade] – Hetrobranchia
Family – Spiraxidae
Genus – Euglandia
Species - rosea
*The class Gastropoda is still undergoing a taxanomic shakeup, as such the Rosy Wolf Snail could be in any of the following Order; Hetrobanchia, Euthyneura, Eupulmota and Stylommatopha
RelatedSpecies – The Rosy Wolf Snail is one of over 30 species in the genus Euglandia
Range – The Rosy Wolf Snail is native to the Southern States of the America, with a range stretching from Texas in the West to South Carolina in the East. In addition the species has been introduced to a number of pacific islands as well as China and India too.
Snail Terminator
The Rosy Wolf Snail, has an average shell length of 60mm, and a body length of 100m, often found in damp, dark habitats such as forests and swamps. The shell is long and low, and consists of four or more whorls, each smaller than the last as you head to the back of the shell. Like all gastropods, the Rosy Wolf Snail moves a single large foot, leaving behind a chemical trail behind it. To navigate it uses ‘two fleshy lips’ that taste chemical cues left in the environment around it.
It’s these cues that aid the Rosy Wolf Snail, when it comes to hunting. Unlike a lot of other terrestrial snails, this species is carnivorous, and specialises in hunting other snails and slugs. Smaller preys species are swallowed whole, shell and all (2), while larger species have their shells infiltrated as the Rosy Wolf Snail drills through their shells with its radula. In addition to these deadly weapons, the Rosy Wolf Snail can outpace its prey, often tracking them down their own slime trails for hundreds of meters, before finally reaching them.
Like the vast majority of land snails, the Rosy Wolf Snail is a hermaphrodite, but is unable to self-fertilize, thus requiring contact with others of its species. During a sexual encounter, one animals acts as a male, and the other a female, before switching roles to ensure both species have been fertilized.
Five Fun Rosy Wolf Snail Facts
The snail eating habits of the Rosy Wolf Snail have earned it the nickname ‘Cannibal Snail’
In addition it’s been recorded that the Rosy Wolf Snail moves 300% faster than the prey species it feeds on
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All these traits mean, that outside its range the Rosy Wolf Snail is a deadly invasive predator. It has been theorized that since 1500, one third of island snail extinctions can be accredited to this species (3)
The Rosy Wolf Snail is so veracious, that some native species have been recorded as being extinct only a year after the predator arrives on their island homes.
While eating snails with their shells seems like a painful affair, the calcium carbonate that forms their homes is used by the Rosy Wolf snail to strengthen its own shell (4).
Bibliography
2. http://www.molluskman.com/Euglandina_rosea.html
3. http://www.stoppinginvasives.org/home/database/euglandina-rosea
4. http://www.molluscs.at/gastropoda/terrestrial.html?/gastropoda/terrestrial/euglandina.html
PictureCredits
1. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/Euglandina_rosea.jpg
2. http://www.molluscs.at/images/weichtiere/schnecken/euglandina_feeding.jpg
3. http://www.molluscs.at/images/weichtiere/schnecken/eugl_ros.jpg
Well that should creep out @ostyo, and speaking of him, I am begrudgingly having to keep a promise I made, as next week I get blood from a stone.. But until then critic, comment and suggest a species you want to see as well as check out Impurest’s Bestiary of Past Issues.
Many Thanks
Impurest Cheese
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