Creature 347: Powelliphanta

Slimy yet satisfying

Powelliphanta is a genus of carnivorous landsnails known as the New Zealand amber snail.

They love to eat earthworms. They don't just eat them either, they slurp them up like spaghetti.  Watch it here:

Distribution:
The New Zealand amber snails are unsurprisingly endemic to New Zealand. Most species have a very limited geographic range.

Classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Order: Heterobranchia
Family: Rhytididae
Genus: Powelliphanta

Image Links:

http://www.doc.govt.nz/nature/native-animals/invertebrates/powelliphanta-snails/

Video Links:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xNxQfVNVR8

Creature 299: Chelidonura varians

Not quite a nudibranch,  but still cool looking.

Chelidonura varians is just another cool looking sea slug, not quite in the nudibranch group but still pretty cool.

They eat flatworms and can be used to clean out flatworm infestations in aquariums.

Distribution:
Chelidonura varians can be found in Indo-Pacific tropical waters.

Classification:
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Mollusca
Class:Gastropoda
Order: Heterobranchia
Family:Aglajidae
Genus:Chelidonura
Species: Chelidonura varians

Image Links:

http://www.seaslugforum.net/showall/chelvar

Creature 297: Tornatellides boeningi

Bird's digestive tract. The only way to travel.

Tornatellides boeningi is a small terrestrial snail common on islands throughout the pacific ocean.

That may seem odd as a small terrestrial snail has no chance of migrating hundreds of kilometers between islands on its own. So how did they get to so many islands?

Tornatellides boeningi often get eaten by birds, but these guys somehow have an uncanny ability to shrug it off. That's right they are capable of surviving being eaten by birds. When they come out the other end they are often fine. This doesn't work all the time, but when it does they apparently suffer no ill effects. Presumably they are spread between islands by birds feeding on one island and then moving on.

Distribution:
Tornatellides boeningi can be found on various islands throughout the Pacific.

Classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Order: Heterobranchia
Family: Achatinellidae
Genus: Tornatellides
Species: Tornatellides boeningi

Image Links:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/07/110719-snails-birds-feces-animals-environment-weird/

http://www.themarysue.com/snail-poop-travel/

Creature 265: Zospeum tholussum

A snail that lives over 1000m underground

Zospeum tholussum is a recently discovered (2010) European snail which is sometomes called the Croatian cave snail.

The snail was found in one of the deepest cave systems in the world at a depth of 980 m. Since the fisrt several shells were collected at depths of up to 1390 m. They have several adaptations whoch often occur in cave dwelling animals which never see the light. They are transparent, they are completely blind and apparently they are even less mobile than most snails.

Distribution:
These little snails are only known in the Lukina jama–Trojama cave system in Croatia.

Classification:

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Order: Heterobranchia
Family: Ellobiidae
Genus: Zospeum
Species: Zospeum tholussum

Image Links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zospeum_tholussum

http://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/pub/61597.php?from=248636