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Tiny and still the largest: the bellied diaper snail is important for valuable wetland habitats

2021-08-30T12:07:33.870Z


She is an important inhabitant of the Ampertal: the bellied diaper snail. The tiny little animal is a so-called sensitive type of pointer.


She is an important inhabitant of the Ampertal: the bellied diaper snail.

The tiny little animal is a so-called sensitive type of pointer.

Ampertal

- Kerstin Kamm, area manager for the Ampertal at the landscape conservation associations Fürstenfeldbruck, Dachau and Freising (funded by the Bavarian Nature Conservation Fund and the Upper Bavarian District), introduces a “real native” every month.

This time: the bellied diaper snail.

The bellied diaper snail is a nocturnal species and stays stuck to the leaves of larger sedges or in the reeds during the day with the help of its mucus.

Within the land snail it belongs to the family of diaper snails.

Its name is derived from the reddish brown to yellowish colored housing, which has five bulbous whorls, the last of which is greatly expanded and makes up almost two thirds of the height of the housing.

Although it may appear tiny to the human eye, with housing dimensions of up to 2.7 millimeters in height and 1.6 millimeters in width, it is the largest nappy snail in Central Europe.

Occurrence increased in the Ampertal

The main German deposits are in wetlands in the northeast of the country, in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and in southern Germany.

In Bavaria, the bellied diaper snail can be found in the pre-alpine moorland and hill country.

It is mainly tied to limestone bogs and calcareous swamps and is also widespread throughout the Ampertal valley.

In 2020 it was increasingly detected as part of an investigation of the mollusc fauna (snails and mussels) at various source locations of the Amperleite in the Freising district.

Mushrooms and algae as food

The diaper snail with the exotic-sounding, scientific name Vertigo moulinsiana feeds mainly on small fungi that are parasitic on plants, which it grazes.

In addition, seed plants, algae and blue-green algae are on their menu.

Water birds as a "taxi" for locomotion

All diaper snails reproduce as a hermaphrodite animal through mutual fertilization, whereby the possibility of self-fertilization is also given.

The young snails reach fertility within a year.

The eggs or juveniles of the bellied diaper snail can be spread with the help of water birds.

With this passive form of distribution, eggs or young animals attached to the plumage are transported over a few kilometers to new, suitable habitats.

Endangered type of pointer

Like other diaper snails, the Ampertaler of the month of August is a sensitive indicator species of the Fauna-Flora-Habitat Directive in the European network of protected areas "Natura 2000".

Their occurrence gives indications for the condition of valuable wetlands.

It is also important to maintain these habitats in the Ampertal, which is an important axis of expansion for this snail species, through suitable care measures.

In order to achieve this goal, further drainage measures and mowing should be avoided at unfavorable times of the year, since the removal of the bank vegetation is synonymous with the withdrawal of the most important place of residence of this special and little-known snail. 

ft

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Source: merkur

All news articles on 2021-08-30

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