A living snail in a faecal pellet of the green toad

1 Pages·1993·0.29 MB·English

by  Mienis, H K

BASTERIA, 57:2, 1993
Aliving snail in afaecal pellet ofthe greentoad
H.K. Mienis
Mollusc Collection, Zoological Museum, Dept. Evolution, Systematics & Ecology, HebrewUniversity of
Jerusalem,91904Jerusalem,Israel
AjuvenileMonachaobsiructa(Pfr.)was foundalive inafaecal pelletofa greentoad(Bufoviridis)
notfarfrom Ramla,Israel.
Keywords: Gastropoda,Pulmonata, Helicidae, Monacha, predation,Israel.
The green toad (1Bufo viridis Laurcnti, 1768) is considered a common predator of
terrestrialsnailsandslugs (Amitai, 1980).Yet, theonly dataonactual cases ofpredation
on snailsinIsrael are those published by Mienis (1987), whorecorded the presence of
remains ofsix species ofland snails in faecal pellets ofthese toads caught in Kibbutz
Netzer Sereni.
On 8 February 1993 a green toad was caught near the 'Nesher-Ramla' water
reservoir, 3km ESE. ofRamla. Almostimmediately itproduced afaecalpellet. A check
ofits contents revealed the remains ofseveral lumbricidworms, anearwig [Labidura
riparia(~Pallas, 1773)], asmallcarabidbeetle,aspider, anda tiny landsnail. Thisturned
outto beajuvenile of'.Monachaobstructa (Pfeiffer, 1842) with ashell diameterof2.1 mm.
To my surprise the snail was still alive and started to crawl around as soon as it was
released from the adhering faeces.
Cadée(1988) obtained living Peringia ulvae (Pennant, 1774) from faeces ofshelduck
[Tadorna tadorna (Linnaeus, 1758)] and referred e.g. to literature dealing with the role
birds play in the dispersal ofplants.
Although greentoads are certainly more mobile than snails, itis doubtful whether
they play any rolein the dispersal ofcertainlandsnails. Theinstancesthatsnailssurvive
thelong passage through the digestive tract oftoadsare probably few andfarbetween.
Moreover, green toads never go far afield and usually return to the same hide-out,
where most ofthe defecating takes place.
Monachaobstracta shouldbe added to thelist ofland snails preyed upon by the green
toad in Israel.
REFERENCES
AMITAI,P., 1980. Snails.— AlonleMorehHaBiologiah77:28-34(inHebrew).
CADÉE, G.C., 1988.Levende wadslakjesinbergeendfaeces. —Corr.Bl. Ned.Malac.Ver.243-244:443-444.
MIENIS,H.K., 1987.Predationon snailsbythe GreenToad:Bufo viridis,inKibbutzNetzerSereni,Israel. —
Levantina67: 707-708.