Today on Animal Fact Files we’re discussing garden snails.
Also known as the brown garden snail, this species' scientific name recently changed.
It was originally described from specimens collected from Italy and had the scientific
name Helix until 2015 when it was decided by an assembly to accept the change to the
current name: Cornu.
It's the only living member of its genus!
The name change came about due to marked differences in reproductive organs of this species compared
to Helix species, though it took a long time for scientists to settle on an appropriate
name.
The name Cornu was actually attributed to another member of this species just four years
after its initial naming in 1774!
The specific name, aspersum, is in reference to this snail's spotted appearance, though
I like to consider their stripes when looking for them.
They come in colors ranging from brown to yellow and often sport long stripes along
the "back" of the shell, like racing stripes on a car!
They can also be identified by the upturned lip near their shell opening and their all-around
wrinklyness.
Garden snails have about five whorls, or spirals, as adults and measure just over an inch (2.5cm)
in height and diameter.
They're often described as "globular"!
These invertebrates are believed to originate from western Europe but they've been introduced
throughout most of the world including South Africa, Australia, north, central, and South
America, and some oceanic islands.
This snail is considered a pest in California where it was first introduced in the 1850s
as a source of escargot, though it's worth noting it's not the only snail species eaten
by humans.
In California the garden snail is a citrus pest where individuals can number hundreds
to thousands on a single tree.
It's not, however, considered a pest throughout most of its range, including some of the places
it's been introduced!
Somehow, this species is not currently found in Florida, though it is sometimes found on
plant shipments heading there.
It's been eradicated at least twice from the state, and they're trying to keep it that
way.
Florida has enough invasives to deal with already.
Garden snails prefer habitats with moisture, food, and plenty of hiding places - some examples
of these include woodland edges, sea cliffs, gardens, and graveyards.
They're generally nocturnal but come out when it's raining which is when they're most liked
to be spotted by humans.
These invertebrates specifically need a source of calcium in their environment to promote
shell growth, and this is often found in the plant material they eat.
Brown garden snails are plant eaters but they also consume detritus and even their own siblings,
but we'll come back around to that.
Younger garden snails prefer fresh plants while adults eat both fresh and decaying material.
While leafy material is part of their diet, these animals also eat flowers, fruits, and
sometimes even paper!
Besides humans, garden snails are eaten by mammals like shrews and boars, reptiles like
turtles, amphibians like frogs and salamanders, birds like ducks and thrushes, and other invertebrates
such as spiders and centipedes.
Like other land snails, they have a hard shell for protection against these threats.
This shell typically spirals to the right, which is known as dextral, but in one rare
case a left spiraling individual, named Jeremy, was found, which issued a hunt for other sinistral
snails of this species with whom they could mate.
Snails have both male and female sexual organs.
They're technically able to self fertilize but prefer to cross fertilize with another
individual.
While mating, they stab each other with "love darts'' and deliver sperm packets to one another.
The whole process can take anywhere from four to twelve hours, and two weeks later both
individuals lay eggs.
Garden snails dig nests into the soil with their foot - that's the squishy part they
glide around on using self-produced mucus.
Their egg chambers can be over two and a half inches (6cm) deep.
Inside, a few dozen to over a hundred eggs are laid in a cluster and covered by that
same, sticky mucus produced by glands on the parent's foot.
The eggs are further covered with soil and even the adult's feces!
The eggs remain in the soil from two to six weeks depending on the surrounding temperature,
they then hatch asynchronously, or, not at the same time.
The first meal for many garden snail babies are the unhatched eggs of their siblings!
They get over this oophagous phase pretty quickly, however, and move to fresh plant
material instead.
When it’s newly hatched, the baby's shell is unpigmented and translucent, but it quickly
grows and gains color.
It takes about two years for a garden snail to reach reproductive maturity, though temperature
can also impact this.
During the winter, they hibernate.
Did you know snails do this?
These invertebrates are typically reproductive for at least two years after reaching maturity,
so their lifespan averages three to five years, though captive individuals and some larger
wild populations can live more than a decade!
For more facts on garden snails, check out the links below.
Give a thumbs up if you learned something new today.
Thank you to our Patrons SpikeSpiegel93, Dad, and everyone else for their support of this
channel!
And thank you for watching Animal Fact Files!