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Some snails like the Euglandina rosea, or rosy wolfsnail, are carnivorous and prey on other snails. [15] However, most land snails are herbivores or omnivores. [16] Among land snails, there is also a large variation in preference for specific food. For example, Cepaea nemoralis, or the grove snail, prefers dead plant material over fresh herbs ...
The practice of rearing snails for food is known as heliciculture. For purposes of cultivation, the snails are kept in a dark place in a wired cage with dry straw or dry wood. Coppiced wine-grape vines are often used for this purpose. During the rainy period the snails come out of hibernation and release most of their mucus onto the dry wood/straw.
The largest living species is the Giant African Snail or Ghana Tiger Snail (Achatina achatina; Family Achatinidae), which can measure up to 30 cm. [13] [14] The largest land snails of non-tropical Eurasia are endemic Caucasian snails Helix buchi and Helix goderdziana from the south-eastern Black Sea area in Georgia and Turkey; diameter of the ...
The anatomy of a common air-breathing land snail: much of this anatomy does not apply to gastropods in other clades or groups. Snails are distinguished by an anatomical process known as torsion, where the visceral mass of the animal rotates 180° to one side during development, such that the anus is situated more or less above the head. This ...
Some species of molluscs, particularly certain snails and slugs, can be serious crop pests, [122] and when introduced into new environments, can unbalance local ecosystems. One such pest, the giant African snail Achatina fulica, has been introduced to many parts of Asia, as well as to many islands in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean.
The giant African snail is a macrophytophagous herbivore; it eats a wide range of living plant material, commercially important fruits and vegetables, ornamental plants such as flowers, native plants, as well as weeds and detritus plant material. At different life stages and temperatures, the snail has slightly different feeding preferences.
The shells of these snails often grow to a length of 18 centimetres (7.1 in) with a diameter of 9 centimetres (3.5 in). Certain examples have been surveyed in the wild at 30×15 cm, making them the largest extant land snail species known. [5] [6] Similar to other giant land snails such as L. fulica, A. achatina are herbivores. Their diets ...
This group includes land snails and land slugs. Loss of the shell has taken place many times in different groups that are not evolutionarily closely related, and land snails and slugs are most often treated together as a single group in specialized malacological literature. [2] [3] All terrestrial molluscs belong to the class Gastropoda.