Adaptation
Daedalochila delecta is part of
the informal group Pulmonata, which contains all of the snails and
slugs that have adapted from water and can breathe air. The majority
of the pulmonates are land snails, or freshwater snails and slugs
(Hickman et al 2009). These species have adapted from the majority of the
gastropods because they have migrated to land. To make this change
the mantle cavity of the snail evolved into a lung cavity in which
the snail is able to breathe in air. With this loss of gills, snails
started migrating onto land, most still residing near some source of
water. Also with the creation of the lung cavity, the pneumostome
now carries the function of forcibly expelling air (as well as
waste)(Hickman et al 2009).
The operculum is another adaptation made by these snails. The operculum (meaning “little lid”) is a calcareous lid that the snail uses to protect himself from predators and other environmental stimuli (Gillis 2011). In order to move, a gastropod uses the head-foot portion of the body, and a set of muscular contractions (Hickman et al 2009).
Another adaptation the pulmonates made is the radula. The radula was adopted by marine snails to scrape algae off of substrates, but is also used in land snails for protruding, cutting, and tearing its food (Hickman et al 2009). In the genus Daedalochila, adaptation has happened through the snail’s teeth and shape of each snail’s aperture (Pilsbry, 1946). The different species of this genus are based on differences in these features (Tyron 1867).
