Dear Charlie, Allan and other ConchLers,
The holes in the shells of Aydin were much larger and were probably caused
by larvae of the beetle genus Drilus (one "l"!). They feed on land snails.
Because of the stiff hairs on their dorsum they can't crawl backwards and
leave therefore the shell by biting/drilling their way through the wall of
the shell.

I've never noted such small holes (0.1 mm) as Allan described, although I've
handled thousands of Sphinterochila shells from Israel.
Henk Mienis

----- Original Message -----
From: <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, February 26, 2007 2:15 PM
Subject: Re: boreholes in land shells


>
> Allan,
>
> Check out the following publication:
> Orstan, Aydin. 1999. Drill Holes in land snail shells from western Turkey.
> Schriften zur Malakolozoologie aus dem Haus der Natur - Cismar 13: 31-36.
>
>> About one third of the shells of Sphincterochila fimbriata which I
>> examined on a hillside above the Sea of Galilee just south of Tiberius,
>> Israel had miniscule boreholes, ....What can bore such tiny holes, and
>> why?
>
> Regards,
> Charlie
> .................................................
> Research Associate - Section of Mollusks
> Carnegie Museum of Natural History
> Pittsburgh, PA, USA
>
> Assistant Professor - Family Medicine
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------

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