Alan Gettleman wrote:
 
> Dear James:
> You described, quite well, Euglandina rosea (Ferussac, 1821), pictured
> on page 86 of Tucker Abbott's Compendium of Landshells.  There is also a
> nice comment by Pilsbry in his Land Mollusca. . . book, volume II, pp.
> 188-195 on the mollusc's well developed sense of smell and great speed
> (for a land snail) when tracking down food.
 
CUT....Hello!
 
Hi Alan,
 
I wonder why the Euglandina wipes out the Achatinella and Partulina (native
Hawaiian tree snails) etc etc on the Pacific islands yet they do not seem to
make a dent on the Liguus populations in South Florida. The Euglandinas are
native to Florida and SUPPOSEDLY were here before the Liguus arrived. Must be
that Liguus leave something to be desired as a meal, that is, taste funny.
Typically the Euglandina is more terrestrial than arboreal and do eat Liguus
during their yearly ground visits for egg laying in the fall. I have only
observed three or four incidents of Euglandina at heights of three to four feet
off the ground on the Liguus host trees, this in a period of 48 years of
collecting the Liguus in their habitat (or whats left of it). Could be that
Euglandina populations are controlled by other predators. I do think that the
wiping out of native populations on the Pacific islands by Euglandina rosea may
be exagerated a bit, sort of a whipping boy.
"On a quiet night you can hear the rain like sound of shells falling from the
trees,"
excerpt from a magazine article on the Hawaiian Euglandina plague. A larger
part is most probably due to habitat destruction by development, clearing out
of host trees. The real estate developers and pineapple growers sort of wash
their hands, pay for a "study" and blame it upon the Euglandina.
 
--
Later,
 
Emilio Jorge Power
 
Please visit;
"The Liguus Home Page"
http://pw1.netcom.com/~ejpower/lighompage.html