museum trip

On Friday room 5 went to the town museum.These gastropods are large, with shells up to 9 cm across. Their striking delicately patterned shells come in an array of shades, from brown or red to yellow or black. The structure of these shells is very delicate, with a very thin layer of calcium carbonate, covered by a thicker chitinous outer layer. These snails need moist surroundings, otherwise the outer layerSpecies in the genus Powelliphanta are carnivorous and eat mostly earthworms or slugs. They are nocturnal. They need moist surroundings and thus they live buried under leaf mould and logs. They can live for 20 years or more and are slow to mature, reaching sexual maturity around 5 years of age. They are hermaphrodites, having both male and female characteristics. They lay 5 to 10 large eggs a year. Powelliphanta uses a rudimentary radula to devour its prey. The radula is like a belt of teeth, which scrapes chunks of flesh into the oesophagus. Far from being ingested whole, its prey are subjected to prolonged radulation dries, shrinks and cracks. This happens often in museum shells of this genus which are stored dry; when they dry too much, the shell shatters explosively into fairly small pieces Hidden away in New Zealand’s forests and grasslands is a bewildering array of native land snails, which range from the microscopic to the massive. Among these are at least 21 species and 51 sub-species of Powelliphanta snails – which represent some of the most distinctive invertebrates in New Zealand. By Israel Thanks for reading:) sorry about picture