Lynn Scheu wrote:
>
> Thanks, Emilio and Rich, for bring us up to speed on cleaning of landshells.
> What a fine explanation, Rich.  I knew there was something that would bleach
> out on those ligs, Emilio! And now I remember the green connection. Does
> anyone have any speculation about why this should be so, just green lines
> that scrape off?  What would be the advantage?
 
Hello!
 
Hi Lynn,
 
The cuticular green lines, on Liguus, just happen!  Some generate the
lines and some dont within the same population. In some instances,
heresay, I do not know for a fact, only from "Old" collectors, they say
that if you take a juvenile shell from the keys and transplant it to the
Pinecrest or Glades area it will grow the green cuticular lines.  These
are NOT the green lines of simpsoni, delicatus, vonpaulseni or osmenti.
Those shells have "embedded lines", in the shell as do many others.
Some shells or forms exhibit both cuticular and embedded lines.
 
Very old dead shells found at the base of trees still have the dark
markings after many years of weather bleaching and etching by leaf
litter acids.
 
Some Liguus, specifically the dark shells, show it most (obviously),
have a white chalky appearance that disappears when wetted and
re-appears on drying. Seems to happen in certain hammocks or areas of
habitat.  This is easily prevented by rubbing the shell lightly with a
soft cloth and a few drops of Armorall. The silicone in the Armorall
preserves the perio, shell and somehow keeps the white chalky stuff in
check.
 
Archie swears by it and has shells that have been treated this way for
many years. No Byne's and they look very fresh.
 
So far color or lines do not seem to offer any advantage to the snails
as far as heating/cooling (environmental control), camouflage or mating.
 
Dark lines in Cepaea seem to be coupled to environmental
heating/cooling. I collected them (and related ones) by the gazillions
in Asturias (Spain) and did not notice this, I used it as a guide to get
some of the darker lined ones, a lousy guide indeed!! The colonies were
pretty well homogeneous. However the colony to colony variation was
tremendous. Shoulda written this up in a notebook, I blew it, guess I am
not a very meticulous field collector, had an excuse though, thinking of
the good food!!!
 
--
Later,
 
Emilio Jorge Power
 
Please visit;
"The Liguus Home Page"
http://pw1.netcom.com/~ejpower/lighompage.html