Common amber snail
| Amber snail | ||||||||||||
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Succinea putris |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Succinea putris | ||||||||||||
| ( Linnaeus , 1758) |
The common amber snail ( Succinea putris ) is a species of the amber snail family (Succineidae) from the suborder of the land snail (Stylommatophora). It gets its German name from its translucent, amber-yellow casing.
features
The comparatively large shell of the adult snail measures 10 to 15 mm, very rarely up to 24 mm in height. It has three to four turns that increase very quickly. The whorls are only slightly convex and separated by a flat seam. The mouth is broad and rounded-ovoid, pointed at the top; it takes up about two thirds of the total height. The translucent shell is relatively thin and fragile. The color of the case varies from amber yellow (name!) To slightly greenish-yellow. The surface shows fine to coarse, irregular growth stripes and has a matt gloss. In specimens with predominantly coarse growth strips, the surface looks as if it is wrinkled. The body of the animal is usually light yellowish-gray in color, with the front upper part of the animal being usually darker. However, the body color fluctuates very strongly from one population to another and also within a population. There are very light, milky white to light yellow specimens, but also deep dark brown to blackish gray animals, whereby the light forms are more common.
Geographical distribution, habitat and way of life
The common amber snail is widespread in Europe, as well as West and North Asia. It is only missing in the higher elevations of northern England and northern Scandinavia as well as in northern Russia.
The common amber snail is mainly found in moist tall herbaceous vegetation, moist meadows, near marshy banks, moors or silted up river arms. It often lives on damp leaves or on plant stems (e.g. on reeds standing in the water), where it is often found in association with the darker and slightly smaller slender amber snail ( Oxyloma elegans ). She is very sensitive to dehydration. In contrast to other species of amber snail, it eats fresh plant parts in addition to rotting plant material. They spend the winter hidden under leaves, rotting parts of plants or in loose soil. The common amber snail can stay underwater for a long time without drowning, e.g. B. if it accidentally fell into the water. But then they try to crawl out of the water as quickly as possible on a stem. Young animals in particular can spend days underwater before leaving the water.
Reproduction
The common amber snail, like all land snails, is a hermaphrodite. When mating, the choice of partner is random, as far as the size of the partner's housing is concerned. When there were differences in size, it was observed that the smaller and more active animals were mostly on top of the larger, more inactive partners. After fertilization, the common amber snail lays up to 100 eggs several times in a spawning ball. The diameter of the individual eggs is between 1 and 1.8 mm. The eggs are laid in rotting leaves, moss or on the stems of the food plants. The actual egg cell swims in an almost transparent, considerably larger protein mass, which in turn is enclosed by a crystal-clear, mostly concentrically layered gelatinous-solid egg membrane. Depending on the temperature, the young hatch after about 11 to 21 days. The animals can reach an age of up to two years.
Parasitism in amber snails
Many species of amber snail, including the common amber snail, are attacked by a specialized parasite , the suction worm Leucochloridium paradoxum . The common amber snail is an intermediate host in the life cycle of L. paradoxum , the final host is birds. The change in the snail's antennae is particularly noticeable . The pathogen absorbed via bird droppings reproduces asexually in the snail and causes so-called antennae maggots . Due to the sporocyst tubes reaching into the antennae, the antennae swell strongly, become distinctively colorful and begin to pulsate. The birds, which consider the snail's antennae, due to their resemblance to worms or maggots, to be prey, eat the snail or even just the antennae and thus ingest the sporocysts. Since the snail can no longer retract the swollen antennae for protection, it is an easy target for the birds to spot. The parasites reproduce and reproduce sexually in the bird's body. The eggs, which are surrounded by a hard shell, are excreted in the feces and can now be ingested by snails.
In addition, the common amber snail is the intermediate host for the badger lungworm Aelurostrongylus falciformis .
Danger
The species is not endangered in Germany.
supporting documents
literature
- CR Boettger: On the way of life of the snails Succinea and Semilimax. In: Journal for Morphology and Ecology of Animals. 29, Göttingen 1934, pp. 229-230.
- Ewald Frömming: Biology of the Central European Landgastropods. Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1954, DNB 451392302 .
- Michael P. Kerney, Robert AD Cameron, Jürgen H. Jungbluth: The land snails of Northern and Central Europe. Paul Parey, Hamburg / Berlin 1983, ISBN 3-490-17918-8 .
- Richard Lucius, Brigitte Loos-Frank: Biology of Parasites. 2nd Edition. 2008, ISBN 978-3-540-37707-8 , p. 292.
Individual evidence
- ↑ K. Jordaens et al .: Mate choice in the hermaphroditic land snail Succinea putris (Stylommatophora: Succineidae). In: Animal Behavior. 70/2005, pp. 329-337.
- ↑ G. Rietschel: Occurrence of larval trematodes in amber snails (Succineidae) in Hesse. In: Parasitology Research. 58/1979, pp. 265-274.
- ^ Roy C. Anderson: Nematode Parasites of Vertebrates: Their Development and Transmission . CABI, 2000, ISBN 0-85199-786-4 , pp. 164 .
- ^ Vollrath Wiese: The land snails of Germany. Quelle & Meyer, Wiebelsheim 2014, ISBN 978-3-494-01551-4 , p. 45.
