Snail-eating Snails Of Florida

In Florida, there are 3 native and 2 introduced species of snails belonging to 5 different families known to feed on other snails. In addition, several introduced species of the Subulinidae are considered carnivorous, but little is known of their biology and identification is difficult. These will be dealt with separately in a future circular. The best known of the Florida predator snails is the Rosy Predator Snail, Euglandina rosea (Ferussac), which was exported to Hawaii and other areas (Mead, 1961) in vain attempts to control the Giant African Snail (Achatina fulica Bowdich). A Mediterranean snail, the Decollate Snail, Rumina decollata (Linnaeus), is much heralded today (Fisher et al., 1980) in California as an effective biological control agent of the Brown Garden Snail. Relatively little is known of the other 3 species of snail-eating snails, two of which are less than 10 mm long. All of these Florida predaceous snails are easy to identify and the following account summarizes what is known of their distributions, identification and habits.