The physical environment and aestivation in Lymnaea tomentosa (Pfeiffer)

Abstract

If the snail Lymnaea tomentosa, intermediate host of the liver-fluke, Fasciola hepatica, in Australia, has adequate nutrition, experiments reported in this paper have shown that it burrows prior to aestivation. This means that burrowing may be used as an indicator in physiological studies of the initiation of aestivation of L. tomentosa. Although desiccation results in burrowing and aestivation it may well operate through upsetting the water balance within the snail; the snail burrows when the rate of loss of moisture from the snail to the air exceeds the rate at which the snail can absorb water.