STARVATION, DESICCATION AND USE OF ALLOSPERM IN THE HERMAPHRODITE FRESH-WATER SNAIL BIOMPHALARIA-GLABRATA (GASTROPODA, PULMONATA)

Pairs of albino and pigmented snails were used to test the hypothesis that the hermaphrodite freshwater gastropod Biomphalaria glabrata was able to conserve and use allosperm, despite periods of desiccation and starvation. In laboratory experiments, lots of twenty snails were sub ject to 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20 days starvation; similar lots of 20 snails were subjected to 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 weeks of desiccation at R.H. 100% . After all periods of starvation and desiccation, albino parents were still producing significant numbers of pigmented offspring, suggestin g preferential cross-fertilization using stored allosperm.