Mega identity problem

[goose]

I recently bought a c/b Megalobulimus oblongus on ebay. It is only 4 weeks old at the moment but in the long term I would like to obtain another so I can attempt to breed them. However I obviously need to make sure I obtain the right partner for him so I don't have a problem with cross breeding. From what I can gather and correct me if I'm wrong there are 2 strains of Megalobulimus oblongus available in the UK 'Trinidad' and 'Barbados' and these refer to the areas they were collected and they have been introduced to these islands and are localised strains of Megalobulimus oblongus - not unidentified sub-species of Megalobulimus? So my question is when I come to breeding my mega do I need to make sure his partner originates from the same breeding stock ie Trinidad or Barbados or do I just need to make sure it is a Megalobulimus oblongus ie the Trinidad and Barbados tags are not important in terms of maintaining pure genetic Megalobulimus oblongus stock. Hope this is not too confusing

[Deleted]

There's also Megalobulimus oblongus haemastomus, from Uruguay, which are quite different from the other oblongus:



There's a lot of variants of oblongus:

Megalobulimus oblongus (Muller 1774), Brazil
Megalobulimus oblongus albolabiata (E.A.Smith, 1894)
Megalobulimus oblongus conicus (Bequaert) Brazil
Megalobulimus oblongus formicacorsii (Barattini & Alcalde-Ledón, 1949)
Megalobulimus oblongus haemastomus (Scopoli 1786), Uruguay, Brazil
Megalobulimus oblongus intertextus (Pilsbry, 1895)
Megalobulimus oblongus lorentzianus (Doring 1876), Argentina,
Megalobulimus oblongus musculus (Bequaert 1948)

I don't think it's known which ones the Trinidad or Barbados snails are. But I don't think you should worry about whether they're of the same 'breeding stock'. Infact, the more genetically different two parents are, the more healthy the offspring will be. Problems arise when parents are too genetically similar (inbreeding).

Isn't Paul King the only one with the Barbados ones?

[goose]

Thanks - thats my point, I want to make sure that the Megabulimus oblongus available in this country are just that, Megalobulimus oblongus that have been introduced to those 2 places (Trinidad and Barbados) as I don't think they are native there, and they are not one of the numerous listed subspecies that hasn't been identified and given the tag Trinidad etc because that is where they were found. Presumably though if introduced if they are a subspecies they are likely to be all the same subspecies? From what the seller told me and she was very helpful I think mine will be from the Trinidad stock as you say, so maybe I just need to make sure any other c/b I get can be traced back to the ones originally imported from Trinidad. He is not haemastomus. What I meant by the same breeding stock is the same species or subspecies - otherwise I will end up with a cross breed which I don't want. I understand what you say about the inbreeding and agree although I think officially the jury is still out as to whether inbreeding does have an effect on snails? My head hurts now!

[Kevin]

if its the seller I think it is, as ive only seen one person on ebay selling megas other than the original Trinidad ones, they would almost certainly be haemastomus, unless they have kept and bred both subspecies. They originally bought some haemastomus from me, they have sold adult haemastomus on ebay in the past as well im sure.

The baby haemastomus, from what ive seen, can have darker shells than the adults, and also more rounded, the shells of the wild ones may be influenced by the natural conditions they live in.

The Trinidad ones were collected by eddydis (an ebay seller) and are huge compared to the haemastomus. The only person that I know for sure keeps/kept the Barbados ones in the UK is Paul.

[goose]

Thanks Kevin - well if thats the case then that certainly solves the problem I will contact the seller again to check. She did mention there were 2 species of megas being bred but not which type she had or if she had both - I just assumed from the wording in the listing it would oblongus not oblongus haemastomus. At the mo the baby has fawn shell and pale body - like most baby snails ;D so can't tell from his physical appearance which he is yet!

[Kevin]

I would also ask for a picture of the adults, its easy to tell apart haemastomus and the Trinidad ones when they are adult.

[goose]

Thanks Kevin - I e-mailed her last night and she has kindly offered to send a picture of the parents for me so hopefully the baby will soon have an identity!

[welshlassy]

i may be able to help u here, if its off amy-nakkita i have the parents heres a pic, i brought both pairs she sold

[Kevin]

they're Megalobulimus oblongus haemastomus.

[goose]

Thanks welshlassy they are gorgeous! Well I heard back from the seller over the weekend - she has tried to send me pics but my AOL is playing up and I can't open them. Anyway she says the pics of ones she sold previously on ebay (ie the ones you bought welshlassy) are the same species as the parents of Morph, so Morph is a haemastomus! She has Trinidad megas but they are not breeding yet. Thanks everyone at least I now know what he is!

[Deleted]

are haemastomus not difficult to breed?

[goose]

I'm not sure since I haven't tried yet as I don't have any adults. The person I got Morph from has had quite a bit of success with them though, she has more hatchlings growing on.