Meeting Abstract

P1.169  Sunday, Jan. 4  Trail following and tentacle movements in the carnivorous rosy wolf snail, Euglandina rosea DAVIS-BERG, E. C.; Columbia College Chicago edavisberg@colum.edu

A variety of predatory gastropods, including Euglandina rosea were introduced to Hawaii and other Pacific islands in a failed attempt to limit the spread of the giant African land snail, Achatina fulica. Instead of consuming Achatina fulica, E. rosea has been implicated in the decimation of many species of endemic island snails. Euglandina rosea is native to the southeastern United States, and can follow the mucous trails of its prey. Although experiments have examined food choice, it is unknown if the ability of E. rosea to follow mucous trails differs with prey snail species. This study compared the ability of E. rosea to follow trails of two groups of gastropods: those found within its local habitat (southeastern USA) and those found outside its native range (Kansas). Each predator (n = 10) was tested against a total of 24 individuals from eight species of gastropods (four species from each area) and three individuals of each species. Unlike previous studies, E. rosea followed trails in the direction that they were laid. The results of the study indicate that prey gastropods from Florida and Kansas were followed at almost identical frequencies by all ten predators tested. In addition, there were differences in the predators’ inter-tentacle angle between trail following or not-following behaviors.