Ants as shell collectors: notes on land snail shells found around ant nests

We investigated the shell collecting activities of harvester ants (Messor spp.) in semi-arid grasslands and shrubs in Turkey. We found eleven species of snails in the area, two of them were not collected by ants. Eight – mainly small sized – snail species were found on ant nests in a habitat characterized by shrubs, three in rocky grassland and four in a grassland habitat. Some shells (e.g. Chondrus zebrula tantalus, Multidentula ovularis) might be taken into the nests, and we hypothesise that some of these snail species are consumed by ants (Monacha spp.). From a fauna inventory perspective, shell collecting activities of harvester ant may help malacologists to find snail species which are normally hidden for a specialist (e.g. Oxychilus hydatinus, Cecilioides spp.) due to their special habits.