Allen,
Larger & oval holes are bored by the predatory larvae of drilid beetles &
there are normally not more than 2 per shell (one entrance, one exit
hole). Smaller & circular holes, of which there could be more than 2 per
shell, are bored by an unknown organism. The holes you observed may have
been in the latter category. Did you take photographs?

If you e-mail me your postal address, I will send a reprint of my paper.


Aydin
snailstales.blogspot.com


On Sun, 25 Feb 2007 18:35:30 -0500, Allen Aigen <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>Listers,
>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, most of which did not go all the way
>through the shell.   I found that many of these thick shelled land snail,
>that normally lives exposed on the ground, has one to 6 tiny (~0.1mm)
>boreholes on the upper surface.
>What can bore such tiny holes, and why?
>Thanks,
>Allen Aigen  NYC
>[log in to unmask]

----------------------------------------------------------------------
[log in to unmask] - a forum for informal discussions on molluscs
To leave this list, click on the following web link:
http://listserv.uga.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=conch-l&A=1
Type your email address and name in the appropriate box and
click leave the list.
----------------------------------------------------------------------