Sphincterochila boissieri is a land gastropod mollusk of the detachment of pulmonary snails of the Sphincterochilidae family. The species name is given in honor of Pierre Edmond Boissier - a Swiss botanist and traveler.
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Content
Range
Lives in the deserts of the Middle East , in particular in the Negev desert ( Israel ) and in the Sinai desert ( Egypt ) [3] [4] . Lives mainly on loess and calcareous soils , avoids silicon . In the Negev, the population density reaches 0.2-0.3 individuals / m² [5] [4] .
Description
The mollusk shell is thick, perforated , white with a slight sheen. Has 5 curls. Diameter of a sink is up to 25 mm. The last curl comes forward. The mouth of the conch is closed by a thick operculum with two thick fused tubercles. The mass of the mollusk is about 4.3 g, of which half falls on the mass of the shell. 81% of the body mass of the mollusk itself is water, 11% is protein . The energy reserves of the mollusk in the form of fats are extremely low - up to 1% [4] [5] .
Ecology
The view is well adapted for drying thanks to a thick white shell and a narrow aperture. Every summer, the mollusk falls into diapause , each time synthesizing an epifragm . Before diapause, the mollusks dig into the ground (to a depth of 1-5 cm in the Negev desert and up to 10 cm in the Dead Sea region ). The snail can easily withstand temperatures up to +50 ° C, but temperatures above + 55 ° C can be lethal. During diapause, the snail loses about 0.5 mg of water per day, there is almost no oxygen and energy consumption, so the snail can be in a diapause state for up to 6-8 years [6] [5] .
The life cycle of the species is adapted to desert conditions. Snails are active only a few days a year after rains (usually between November and March), during this period they feed, gain weight and breed. The snail is active only 5–7% of the year (18–26 days), and the rest of the time is in a diapause state [5] [3] .
It feeds on organic soil components, lichens and algae [4] [5] .
Notes
- ↑ Steinberger Y. Biology of Arid region Soils - Faunal Components // Semiarid Lands and Deserts: Soil Resource and Reclamation / J. Skujins. - New York: Marcel Dekker, Inc., 1991 .-- P. 187. - 648 p. - (Books in soils, plants and the environment). - ISBN 0-8247-8388-3 .
- ↑ Shachak M., Orr Y., Steinberger Y. Field observations on the natural history of Sphincterochila (S.) zonata (Bourguignat, 1853) (= S. boissieri Charpentier, 1847) // Argamon: Israel Journal of Malacology. Israel Malacology Society and Municipal Malacology Museum: Nahariya. - 1975 .-- Vol. 5, No. 1-4 . - P. 20–46. - ISSN 0334-326X .
- ↑ 1 2 Yom-Tov, Yoram. The Effect of Predation on Population Densities of Some Desert Snails // Ecology. - 1970. - Vol. 51, No. 5 . - P. 907-911. - DOI : 10.2307 / 1933987 .
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 Shachak M., Chapman EA, Orr Y. Some aspects of the ecology of the desert snail Sphincterochila boissieri in relation to water and energy flow // Israel journal of medical sciences. - 1976. - Vol. 12, No. 8 . - P. 887–891. - PMID 977309 .
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 Schmidt-Nielsen K., Taylor CR & Shkolnik A. Desert Snails: Problems of Heat, Water and Food // The Journal of Experimental Biology. - 1971. - Vol. 55, No. 2 . - P. 385–398. - PMID 5114030 .
- ↑ Newell PF, MacHin J. Water regulation in aestivating snails // Cell and Tissue Research. - 1976. - Vol. 173, No. 3 . - P. 417-421. - DOI : 10.1007 / BF00220329 .