snails

John Slapcinsky, manager of the Florida Museum of Natural History’s invertebrate zoology collection, named nine new species of carnivorous land snails found in Papua New Guinea. Credit: Florida Museum photo by Jeff GageNine recently discovered species of meat-eating land snails have been identified in the secluded forests of Papua New Guinea, known for its rich variety of species. A recent research paper details these tiny creatures, each so small that all nine could collectively rest on a U.S. nickel. These snails offer…

Researchers have discovered that snails, particularly two species, Karaftohelix editha and Karaftohelix gainesi, exhibit unique behaviors in response to threats, challenging the stereotype of snails as slow and inefficient. Pictured here is K gainesi, known locally as ezo-maimai. Credit: KyotoU/Yuta MoriiA study by Kyoto and Hokkaido Universities reveals that two snail species, K. editha and K. gainesi, show unique defensive behaviors, challenging common perceptions of snails as passive and slow.Snails often get a bad rap…

If an enemy you were previously safe from turned up in your neighborhood, what would you do? That's a problem currently being faced by barnacles in northern Mexico, which are growing sideways to thwart invasive predatory snails.Ordinarily, the Tetraclita rubescens barnacle has a roughly symmetrical conical shell that resembles a miniature volcano, just like most other barnacles.However, after reviewing over 1,000 barnacle photos taken at 30 sites along the Pacific coast of North America (between 2017 and 2022), scientists…

In 2005, the residents of Ban Si Lam, a village in northeastern Thailand, dug out their local pond. Amid the topsoil they found some pottery, ceramics, and—to their surprise—an alligator skull.Finding Uhura’s Confidence in Strange New Worlds | io9 InterviewResearchers initially identified the skull as that of Alligator sinensis, the critically endangered Chinese alligator. But today, a different team of researchers posit that the skull is around 200,000 years oldand belongs to an extinct species of alligator. The team’s…

The boys are back in town. Except, technically, they’re not “boys,” but hermaphroditic land snails. Also, the “town” in question is three separate counties in central and southern Florida. Let’s try this again: Giant African land snails, a potentially devastating invasive species, have re-appeared in three Florida counties.Octopuses Caught on Camera Throwing Shells at Each OtherIn Broward County, just north of Miami, one of the gargantuan gastropods was found earlier this month. To try to halt the spread of the mollusks,…

Parts of Florida's Broward County were placed under quarantine after a giant African land snail was spotted in the area, CBS News reported.Adult snails of this species can grow up to 8 inches (20.3 centimeters) and lay thousands of eggs at a time. Their shells have pointy edges that are sharp enough to puncture the tires of vehicles that run over them. They also pose a serious risk to humans because they carry a parasite that can cause meningitis.The giant snail is among the most invasive species in the world; it eats…

As early as 170,000 years ago, Homo sapiens was sustaining itself on fatty, protein-rich fare: the cooked flesh of giant land snails.A study of snail shells excavated from the famous Border Cave archaeological site in South Africa, followed by rigorous experimentation, reveals that the nutritious mollusks were an important part of the human diet for 100,000 years.These findings fill a curious gap in the fossil record. Until now, the most recent evidence of human consumption of snails was around 49,000 years ago – which…

Metachatina kraussi, Achatinidae, Mollusc shell. Credit: Naturalis Biodiversity Center/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY Humans are the ultimate apex predators on planet Earth. No matter how large-sized, sharp-toothed, razor-clawed, pointy-horned or venomous a creature may be, humans have hunted it for food. Moreover, according to a study led by the University of the Witwatersrand, they have also done so no matter how slow, small and…

As It Happens6:30Invasive snails are helping an endangered bird make a comeback in FloridaSince island apple snails invaded the Florida Everglades, an endangered species of bird known as the snail kite has bounced back from the threat of extinction.It's a rare case of a destructive invasive species having a positive impact, says Robert Fletcher, a professor of landscape ecology at the University of Florida who also directs a snail kite monitoring program."There was a lot of concern that this bird that was already…