Vertebrate Carrion in Land Snail Diets: First Observation of Amphibian (Plethodontid Salamander) Consumption by a Terrestrial Snail in Southern Appalachia

Jeremy D. Pustilnik*

*Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14850.

Southeastern Naturalist, Volume 19, Issue 1 (2020): N8–11

Abstract
The diet of land snails that are detritivores usually consists of decaying plant material and fungi. Animal carrion is also consumed, and is usually composed of invertebrates like earthworms and other snails. However, while working at the Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory in southwestern North Carolina in 2017, I observed a land snail (most likely Cepaea nemoralis [Grove Snail]) feeding on the carcass of a Desmognathus aeneus (Seepage Salamander), a vertebrate. This is the first report of a land snail feeding on an amphibian carcass in the United States.

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NOTE: An Erratum for this manuscript was published in Volume 19, Issue 3 that corrected an error in the original manuscript. Click here to see the Erratum.