marginata saturalis/ovum/var marginata etc

[deadmansfinger]

can anyone explain the whole margie saturalis/ovum/var marginata thing to me? i know how to identify them but.........do i need 2 saturalis to get saturalis babies or does this just increase the chances? are they simply just differing colour morphs of the same snails or classed as independent species? can you get any of the 3 types from any batch of eggs irrespective of the parents?

thanks,
Brian ;D

[LisaLQ]

I think they're all seperate varieties, and any crosses would make crosses rather than full marginata/ovum/suturalis. But that's just how I have come to understand it, so I could be wrong.

[Paul]

That's correct.

A lot of suturalis in captivity don't fit the suturalis profile very well, except for the red columella. Suturalis are meant to be smaller (average 11 cm long) and more slender, particularly as juveniles. I think there are many crosses around.

[sezzy5889]

and suturalis lay more eggs because the eggs are about ½cm smaller than ovum and var. marginata

[Paul]

I don't think that is true, since eggs are relative to the size of the snail. They lay clutch sizes the same as other margies. Mine certainly have.

Having said that, one of my suturalis has just laid its fourth clutch since I got them, which is a higher frequency than my other margies. Not sure if that is true of all margies though.

[sezzy5889]

one of my suturalis has just laid 12 eggs in one batch and they are about 1.5cm whereas my ovum only laid 7 eggs in each batch and they were 2cm

[Paul]

But ovum can lay up to 16 eggs in one clutch, according to that plummer paper.

[Arno]

sezzy5889 said:

one of my suturalis has just laid 12 eggs in one batch and they are about 1.5cm whereas my ovum only laid 7 eggs in each batch and they were 2cm

I don't think one single snail can set the standard for the variety in general.

[sezzy5889]

Plummer paper??! lol, whats that?

Arno - what do you mean?

[Paul]

"Observations on the reproduction, growth and longevity of a laboratory colony of Archachatina (Calachatina) marginata (Swainson) subspecies ovum" by Jenifer M. Plummer, Royal Veterinary College.

There is an abridged version here:

www.geocities.com/Heartland/Valley/6210/rsch.htm

[Paul]

Arno means that if a snail somehow managed to lay 20 or more, you couldn't use this to detemine averages as 1 extreme would skew the results for all.

[sezzy5889]

that was an interesting piece to read through :-)

well this is my first batch of suturalis so i wouldn't know if that is an unusually large batch for them.

[deadmansfinger]

ok thanks for the replies. my saturalis has a right red columella and is slightly smaller than the others so hopefully its a pure one? ;D
since they are different I am gonna have to get another one now, lol
are margies the only species that can be divided into different subspecies due to columella colour? (if that is the correct terminology) ?

Brian

[Paul]

Out of the ones we know about, I think so.

[deadmansfinger]

you learn something new everyday ;D

thanks for all the info!

Brian ;D

[apple]

Fortunately there are a lot informations on Plummer´s lab work, about margies.
I usually only see very detailed ones about aspersa and so, so it was very nice.
Thanks all.