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Mating in Snails of the genus Helix
The terrestrial snails of the genus Helix are found in Mediterranean Europe (as well as being introduced to other continents), and include such well known snails as the Roman Edible Snail (H. pomatia) and the Chocolate-banded Snail (H. aspersa). Both of these species are edible, and commonly found in and around human habitation.
Helix are hermaphrodites, and have a curious method of mating. When two snails happen upon each other and are ready to mate, they “wrestle”. The individual who physically dominates the other assumes the “male” role by inseminating the other, by piercing the body cavity of the other snail with a sharp calcareous “love dart”, the gypsobelum. The victor of the wrestling match pumps its sperm into the wound of the snail assuming the reproductive “female” role. In a snail’s lifetime, it may both impregnate and become impregnated by others.
(top image: A pair of Helix pomatia in courtship, shortly before mating, by Jangle1969)
(image:SEM image of lateral view of a love dart of the land snail Monachoides vicinus. Structure is similar to that of Helix)
