Meeting Abstract

96.1  Thursday, Jan. 7  Predation at a snail's pace: time-lapse photography and analysis of predatory mode in neogastropod whelks VENDETTI, Jann E.*; FAY, Scott A.; Univ. of California, Berkeley; Univ. of California, Berkeley jannv@berkeley.edu

Time-lapse photography has been used to elucidate and digitally capture diverse biological phenomena across the tree of life. Within the Gastropoda, time-lapse technology has chronicled behaviors such as drilling predation in muricids, desiccation avoidance in mud snails, and the tracking of mucus trails in freshwater pulmonates. In this study, the time-lapse technique was used to record the predatory behaviors of neogastropod whelks in the Family Buccinidae. Members of this family range in feeding preference from specialist carnivores to generalist predators and scavengers. The predation behaviors of buccinids Kelletia kelletii and Busycotypus canaliculatus were observed during laboratory trials using bivalve molluscs as the prey item. Time-lapse photography allowed for comprehensive observation of prey handling, use of the foot and proboscis, and predation mechanisms (e.g. between-valve wedging, marginal chipping, smothering, engulfment, use of tetramine toxin, etc.). Success rate, duration of attack, and number of attempts were also recorded, as was resulting damage to the shells of the bivalve and/or the gastropod predator. Predatory mechanisms of these and other taxa across the Buccinidae are considered in the phylogenetic framework of a recent analysis of 28S (large subunit rRNA) and mitochondrial CO1 (cytochrome oxidase subunit 1) genetic data from selected buccinids.