Papillifera papillaris

Conchiolin · Post by **Conchiolin** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 7:27 am

Hi all!

I'm sure you've seen this kind of mollusc a thousand times but have you ever wondered what kind of mollusc is it? Habitat? What does it feed on? Is it nocturnal or diurnal? Info about the Clausilid snail is scarce on the internet! Is it rare? Endemic? The only thing i got was that this mollusc was previously thought to be endemic so introduced from the Italian peninsula. Can anybody post some info or perhaps suggest a book about molluscs? Is not mentioned in wildlife of the malteses islands.

Only thing i got:
http://www.animalbase.uni-goettingen.de ... es?id=2101

Thanks

Here's the photo:

IL-PINE · Post by **IL-PINE** » Fri Jun 22, 2007 8:25 pm

The Clausillid Papillifera papillaris is very common throughout the Maltese Islands. It is found even on Filfla! Similarly i have never seen it alive - probably it is nocturnal feeding on green stuff and rotting stuff. Habitat - it is found everywhere: I have plenty in my garden, I have seen it in garigues under stones, in valleys, near watercourses, in schools etc etc. It is not endemic but is distributed along the Western Mediterranean. There are other endemic species such as Lampedusa imitatrix, Lampedusa melitensis and Muticaria macrostoma. But this is not endemic.
Beautiful snail if you look at it though.

Conchiolin · Post by **Conchiolin** » Fri Jun 22, 2007 8:58 pm

Woow didn't know there were so many endemic snails. There are six clausiliidae which are endemic:

CLAUSILIIDAE Morch, 1864
Lampedusa imitatrix (Boettger, 1879) Endemic
Lampedusa melitensis (Caruana Gatto, 1892) Endemic
Muticaria macrostoma macrostoma (Cantraine, 1835) Endemic
Muticaria macrostoma scalaris (Pfeiffer, 1848) Endemic
Muticaria macrostoma oscitans (Charpentier, 1852) Endemic
Muticaria macrostoma mamotica (Gulia, 1861) Endemic

Yes i agree with you Pine it is a beautiful mollusc. Thank you do happen to have a book about molluscs?

I'm looking for some books about maltese fauna fungi flora............

Thanks for the info!

IL-PINE · Post by **IL-PINE** » Sat Jun 23, 2007 7:51 am

Actually there are 3:
Lampedusa imitatrix
Lampedusa melitensis
Muticaria macrostoma (the 4 subspecies you mentioned were found to be genetically the same - therefore they are just forms)

The Mollusca are among the most studied in our islands.
For the land shells I have a book that in my opinion is one of the best scientific books I have ever seen.

Entitled the non-marine molluscs of the Maltese Islands by Giusti, Manganelli and PJ Schembri. in 1995 (present at Melitensia at Belt is-Sebh). It mentions the species of land, freshwater and brackish water present, how to identify the shell, the description, habitat, distribution (including detailed dissections of the animals!), any fossils found in our islands, remarks and status of the mollusc itself. Definitely a beautiful book.

Regarding Marine Mollusca there is currently a series (there are currently 3 books published, with the 4th on the way) writted by Cachia, Mifsud and Sammut. The first one regards the Gastropods of the Order Archaeogastropoda, the second and third regard the remaining Mollusca. The first was published in Malta in 1991, the other 2 in Germany in 1996 and 2001. They are important for the marine mollusca.

Then if you want to invest in an atlas of marine shells there is the Atlante delle Concighlie Marine del Mediterraneo by Giannuzzi-Savelli, Pusateri, Palmeri and Ebreo. These are atlases having just photographs of the different species set together. (no descriptions or anything, and they are quite costly being Sicilian books).

Happy? See ya!

wolf · Post by **wolf** » Sat Jun 23, 2007 9:45 am

I apologise for being out of subject here but I could not resist posting this spider pic - anyone knows what it is ? shot this morning in the early banks of heavy mist we had in the north of malta - its from qammieh and Conch - no ticks attacked me this time !!

Conchiolin · Post by **Conchiolin** » Sat Jun 23, 2007 10:21 am

I'm as happy as pig in poop. You sound like a malacologist Pine.

Yeah i think i'll go check these books out. Thanks really!

Conchiolin · Post by **Conchiolin** » Sat Jun 23, 2007 10:41 am

Nice mollusc wolf.

Kiddin as usual. Yeah that arachnid well i think it's not the lobed agriope nor the trifasciata. I did post the pic of that spider once in the insects section , in a post called the Lobed Agriope. But i don't know the species.

No ticks this time ha? Wolf you've given me the habit of double checking my nipples before going to sleep.

IL-PINE · Post by **IL-PINE** » Sat Jun 23, 2007 5:17 pm

ux malacologist! I'm just interesting in plants and molluscs

anyway, tonight its beer night, with the excuse of the village festa!
see ya

Post by **MWP admin** » Mon Jun 25, 2007 1:24 pm

Wolf you could have posted it as a new topic in the Insects section. (now I specifically included Arachnids in the title) I hope you dont mind if later I move it there.

There are several ways that Maltawildplants can help you to arrive to your answer:

The dedicated page for non flora species: (soon going to updated by hundred of new species)
http://www.maltawildplants.com/WildNature.html

The search engine of the forum
http://maltawildplants.com/forum/search ... de=results

The Insects section of the forum
http://maltawildplants.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=9

Alas it is found on the website and I give you a hint: The Genus is Argiope

I raise my hat for your photo - you seem to wake up early in the morning - something that I should learn to do if I want to keep active in Summer

Post by **MWP admin** » Mon Jun 25, 2007 1:30 pm

Nice mollusc wolf. Kiddin as usual. Yeah that arachnid well i think it's not the lobed agriope nor the trifasciata. I did post the pic of that spider once in the insects section , in a post called the Lobed Agriope. But i don't know the species.

Well I am reading this so my prev hint was useless. In my opinion it is a young Argiope lobata, but to say the truth I am not 100% sure because I can easy reckognize them from the dorsal (upper) view or side view to check if the abdomen is lobed or 3 banded.

I have the opinion that we exhibit only 2 Argiopes species.

Conchiolin · Post by **Conchiolin** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 4:27 pm

Hi.

I found this clausilid is the Mamo's Door-snail? It's definitely not the papillifera papillaris i mean look at the end of the tail.

IL-PINE · Post by **IL-PINE** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 5:42 pm

Muticaria macrostoma probably the form oscitans.

Cute snails. Same family as the above.

wolf · Post by **wolf** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 8:18 pm

mwp - sorry for posting boris the spider in the wrong place - and yes you can remove it to wherever you think fits. actually my early morning tour of qammieh last saturday was very weird - driving down to gh tuffieha i was engulfed in very very thick mist and had to switch on fog lights (at7am) gh.tuffieha bay was completely invisible from the edge of the car park - hell even the tower was nowhere to be seen ....then from qammieh gozo and comino kept appearing and disappearing - quite fantastic actually - that explains why te spider web is so full of dew. thick mist is not usual for this time of year as it usually happens november or march.....more funny weather to ponder on i guess

Conchiolin · Post by **Conchiolin** » Thu Jun 28, 2007 9:48 am

Yay i found a muticaria macrostoma oscitans. Thanks Pine.