Native Snail

.....comes out of it's shell.

On 10th April I posted photos of a native snail feeding on fungi. I returned to the same location yesterday and while searching through some leaf litter, I came across another one. To my untrained eye looks to be the same species, Stenacapha ducani. This one was much less shy, coming out of it's shell and allowing me to get some better photos.

Edit: I told I had an untrained eye. This one turns out to be Stenacapha hamiltoni. See comments below for an explanation of differences in shell morphology.

(Click photos to enlarge)

#1- Stenacapha hamiltoni

#2- Stenacapha hamiltoni

#3- Stenacapha hamiltoni

#4- Stenacapha hamiltoni

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Snail on Fungus

Other than a few empty shells, whenever I find an interesting looking snail or slug it it turns out to be an introduced species. You can see some of them here.

This time I'm I 'think' I've found a native. I spotted it while photographing fungi at Fern Glade by the Emu River. My amateur efforts at keying it out put it in the family Charopidae. These snails are said to feed on decaying vegetable matter and fungi. There are at least 24 Tasmanian members in this family most of which are quite small (2 - 5 mm). Based only on the relatively large size of this snail (7-8mm) and it's location, it may well be Thryasona diemenensis. This is a fairy widespread snail in Tasmania and is known to exist at the site where I found this one.


EDIT: Dr. Kevin Bonham has kindly provided a correct ID for this snail. I was way of the mark although I at least put it in the right family :-) The snail is Stenacapha ducani. It can grow to around 15mm in this area and in the far north-west reaches over 20mm.

(Click to enlarge)

A Snail - Stenacapha ducani

......and the fungus (Gymnopilus sp) it was feeding on

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Some Introduced Snails and Slugs

.....Terrestrial Molluscs

I came a across a Great Yellow Slug, Lehmannia flava, in the veggie garden today (not an unusual occurrence) and I though I'd post it here along with some other introduced molluscs which inhabit my backyard. I think it was Bill Mollison who said something to the effect of, "You don't have a slug excess, you've got a duck deficit!" Well as it happens we do have a large population of chickens and ducks in the yard and by and large they do a good job of keeping the numbers down. However there are always the ones that escape detection. Here are a few of them.

(Click to Enlarge Photos)

Cochlicella barbara - Small Pointed Snail

Oxychilus alliarius - Garlic Snail

Helix aspersa - Common Garden Snail

Lehmannia flava - Great Yellow Slug

Lehmannia nyctelia - Striped Field Slug

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