Outing Report - Snail Hunting on Mt French, 16 June 2018

Lorelle Holcroft searching
for tiny snails in a handful of dirt

You’ve heard of snails, and of snail-mail but have you heard of snail hunting? Well that is exactly what the members of the Fassifern Field Naturalists were doing on their last outing; hunting snails! They teamed up with Dr John Stanisic, the Snail Whisperer, and Lorelle Holcroft, in search of snails on Mt French. Stanisic is Australia’s foremost expert on land snails and is lead author of the Australian Field Guide, ‘Australian Land Snails’ Volumes 1 & 2. 

            

John told us that the Queensland Museum had very little on snails from our area. Anything we found would add to the store of knowledge. Armed with a permit to collect snails in the National Park, and several plastic vials in which to place any snails that were found, it was heads down searching for snails under rocks, logs and leaf litter. 

               

We had a slow start as we hunted in the eucalypt woodland. No snails. There were plenty of scorpions, centipedes, beetles, spider crickets, moths, ants, and even an Eastern Small-eyed Snake. Gradually we became more experienced in spotting them and realized how tiny they were, and quite a number of different species were collected.

A strikingly decorated weevil, 
Talaurinus fergusoni

After lunch in a members’ shed John gave us an informative talk on snails, Australian ones in particular. They are not interested in our garden plants. Those snails are introduced pest species. Most of our snails live on decomposing matter and fungi in the rainforest. There are 2500 species of native snail, slug and semi-slugs.

               
Land snails play an important role in recycling forest nutrients and are a food source for many animals – birds, amphibians, and mammals. From knowing almost nothing about Australian snails and slugs the members ended up being much more knowledgeable and interested in these little critters that are so important for our biodiversity.

Eastern Small-eyed Snake, Cryptophis nigrescens 

Scorpion, unknown species

Some of the minute snails we collected
in the bottom of a specimen vial

Dr John Stanisic talking to the Field Nats about Australian snails

Dr John Stanisic displaying some Australian snail shells