Polygyridae and Praticolella candida
Nutrition
How do these snails obtain their food? What food
do they eat?
In order to find food Polygyride use chemoreceptors located on the lower part of their two tentacles. They then obtain the food by the use of a radula. A radula is a chitinous rasping organ used for scraping up, drilling, or tearing at food (Hickman et. al. 2011). This gastropod uses the radula for picking up leaf litter or tearing off pieces of small plants (Bourquin, 2013). The radula contains numerous small teeth to better digest food. The upper mouth region bears a strong jaw made of chitin. The typical food for Praticolella in particular is the mycelia of fungi, however, fruits and vegetables are also common foods (Snail- World 2013). The jaw of Praticolella is ribbed and because they are mainly herbivorous the central and lateral teeth are lined with ectocones, which are smoother sets of teeth used for grinding up food (Pilbry, 1940). After grinding up the food with the radula, digestion is usually extracellular in the lumen of the stomach or digestive glands (Hickman et. al. 2011).
When do these snails eat?
Polygyridae, comparable to a majority of land snails, are nocturnal and therefore prefer to feed at night up until early morning (Hickman et. al. 2011). Like many other terrestrial animals, Polygyridae begin to consume a larger amount of food when the temperatures begin to drop in order to store more fat for hibernation during the colder months. During the hot and dry months, the snails can also voluntarily alter their bodies into hibernation mode to better prevent starvation and to conserve more energy when food sources become scarce (snail-world.com).
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