[NatureNS] ID on Snails on The Walls of Fort On Georges Island

From: Fred Schueler <bckcdb@istar.ca>
To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca
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Date: Mon, 31 Jul 2017 20:19:46 -0400
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On 7/31/2017 4:39 PM, Fred Schueler wrote:
> you can send the photos to me. Most likely juvenile Cepaea hortensis.

* and I've seen the photos (on facebook), and can affirm that they're 
little Cepaea hortensis - 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-lipped_snail - "White-lipped snail - 
or garden banded snail, scientific name Cepaea hortensis, is a 
medium-sized species…"

Gayle MacLean replied that Andrew Hebda had id'd them as 'Cepaea 
hortensis' or 'Cepaea nemoralis', but he couldn't be sure, because he 
could not see 'the lip of the shell'...he said if it was nemoralis, it 
is not common here... and I replied that you would need to see the lip 
of around the aperture of mature shells (as indicated by the English 
name used in the wiki article) to be sure between C. hortensis and C. 
nemoralis, but given the rarity of C. nemoralis in the Maritimes, and 
the tendency of C. hortensis to have populations mostly of unbanded 
yellow shells, I'm pretty sure that's what they are. There are lots of 
interesting questions about this genus, and it would be good if a big 
sample of shells were to be deposited in the NS Museum...

Gayle said it was interesting that they were so widespread over all the 
rock walls of this historic fort located on Georges Island, in the 
Halifax Harbour. Maybe, because of it's location, & with not much human 
visitation, these snails thrived... they were EVERYWHERE, over all the 
outside rock walls of this historic Fort Charlotte, there on Georges 
Island., which is, not open to the public at all...but was, this year, 
for the 'Tall Ships' visitation & regatta, commemorating Canada's 
150th... Maybe Andrew will take a trip over and check it out...

> ================================================
> 
> On 7/31/2017 11:50 AM, GayleMacLean wrote:
>>   Yesterday, I had a fabulous visit to Georges Island to tour historic 
>> Fort Charlotte.
>> I was surprised to see that the outside rock walls of the buildings 
>> were covered with small snails. They reminded me of periwinkles 
>> really, but were the colour of cream to a brighter yellow, the largest 
>> I saw was no more than a half an inch.
>> It's not like the walls were wet or damp, or they didn't appear to be 
>> to the touch, anyway.
>> Can anyone give me any information about them? I have photos if anyone 
>> wants me to send them to you.
>> I also looked for the famous Garter Snakes, but saw none.
>> Probably, too many people roaming around.
>> Thank you very much in advance.
>> Sincerely,
>> Gayle MacLean
>> Dartmouth
> 

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           Frederick W. Schueler & Aleta Karstad
            Fragile Inheritance Natural History
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