Tim,
How did you tell it wasn't Haplotrema? Adult Haplotrema concavum have a
slightly thickened lip. I thought the snail in the picture could be a
subadult with a still thin lip (or an Oxychilus).

Aydin

>-----Original Message-----
>From: Pearce, Timothy [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
>Sent: Friday, April 26, 2002 8:44 AM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Carnivorous land snails
>
>
>   I looked at the snail pictures. The snail appears to be
>genus Oxychilus.
>They are definitely not Haplotrema, which are native
>California omnivorous
>snails (that will eat plants as well as other snails).
>Combining information
>from the photos and from the size measurements (about 16 mm
>diam) you gave,
>I concur with Phil Liff-Grieff who said they are probably Oxychilus
>draparnaudi. They have been introduced from Europe, and are indeed
>carnivorous, eating other snails, as well as other soil
>invertebrates. I
>raised some related O. cellarius (up to about 9 mm diam) for a
>few months
>and never got them to eat plant material - they would readily eat other
>snails, though. I never checked whether they would eat Helix aspersa,
>though.
>   Best wishes,   -Tim-
>
>Timothy A. Pearce, Ph.D., Curator of Mollusks
>Carnegie Museum of Natural History
>4400 Forbes Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15213-4080
>phone: 412-622-1916; fax: 412-622-8837
>email: [log in to unmask]
>