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In a world first , scientists have film a uncommon carnivorous escargot laying an ball from a " venereal pore " in its neck .
The footage answers long - stand question about how the mysterious mollusks — known as the Mount Augustus snail ( Powelliphanta capital of Maine ) — reproduce .
Like many snails,Powelliphantaare hermaphrodites, meaning they have both male and female reproductive organs.
" It ’s noteworthy that in all the sentence we ’ve spent caring for the snails , this is the first fourth dimension we ’ve seen one lie an egg , " Lisa Flanagan , a New Zealand Department of Conservation ( DOC ) ranger who capture the footage , said in astatement . " We caught the action when we were weighing the escargot . We become it over to be librate and see the egg just starting to emerge from the snail . "
In the video , a unmarried pearly livid ball ooze out of the escargot ’s unworthy neck folds , from an gap known as a venereal pore .
There are at least 20 species and 59 sub - species ofPowelliphantasnails , and they are among the heavy snails in the world , according to theDOC.Powelliphantasnails are nocturnal and rarely follow out during the twenty-four hour period , except when it is particularly showery . Therefore , they are not often very rarely spotted by humans .
They are also among New Zealand ’s most threatened invertebrate mintage due to predation and habitat loss .
According to the DOC , P. augusta , only witness on the Buller Plateau on New Zealand ’s West Coast , are menace by extinction due to exposed - mould coal mining in their native range .
Because of their shrivel up population and nocturnal demeanor , very slight is know about these creatures ' life bicycle and deportment . Therefore , wildlife official have been studying a universe in imprisonment for near 20 yr .
" DOC has been managing this captive population in chill containers in Hokitika since 2006 , when body of work start to mine the majority of their habitat on the West Coast of the South Island , " the DOC representatives said in aFacebook post . " Very little was known about the species before they were taken into captivity . "
Like many snail , Powelliphantaare hermaphrodites , meaning they have both manful and distaff reproductive organs . P. augustaare long - lived and dull to mature , only reaching intimate matureness at around 8 age former — which is very old for a escargot . Mature snails ordinarily lay around five eggs a year , which can take more than a year to hatch .
" Some of our captive snails are between 25 and 30 years old — in this they ’re arctic inverse to the pest garden escargot we introduce to New Zealand which is like a weed , with thousand of offspring each year and a short living , " Kath Walker , DOC elderly scientific discipline consultant , state in the statement .
While the escargot ' heavy shells help to protect them from predation and abrasive conditions , they also make it difficult to get sperm from one snail into another . " Powelliphantahave lick this by having an opening ( a venereal stoma ) on the right side of their dead body just below their point so that the escargot only need to glint out of its case to do the patronage , " Walker said .
" It unfold its member out of this pore and into its married person ’s pore , and its mate does the same , simultaneously exchanging spermatozoan , which they can store until they each feed the sperm cell they ’ve received to create testis , " Walker say .
She added that , because they have both manlike and distaff reproductive organs , the snails can also self - fertilize .
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place egg through a genital pore is coarse among snail coinage , although some species , such asLittorina saxatilisin the U.K. , give parentage to be youthful . ButPowelliphantaspecies are strange because they only rest one ball at a time , rather than the handsome eggy cluster produced by many other more common snail mintage , according tothe Carnegie Museum of Natural History .
To carry through these exotic escargot , the DOC has establish fresh universe in the natural state by introducing them into raw and rehabilitated habitats . However , they will continue to manage populations in captivity too until they are confident that the specie is surviving well in the wild .
" The absorbed direction ofPowelliphanta augustahas not only saved the species from quenching , but it ’s permit us to learn more about the lives of these incredible creatures incur nowhere else in the world , " according to the argument .
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