Journal of Biodiversity, Bioprospecting and Development

Investigations into relationships of eggs, hatchlings and adult of Giant African land snail Archachatina marginata were conducted to ascertain optimum size of the snail species for better performance in snail farming. The research was carried out at the Teaching and Research Farm of the Department of Ecotourism and Wildlife Management, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria. A total number of 80 adult giant African land snails of four different sizes were used in conducting the experiment. The 80 adults of Archachatina marginata were weighed, grouped into four according to weight and labeled treatments A-D. (A- 100-249 g, B- 250-349 g, C- 350-449 g and D- 450-549 g). The snails in each group were duplicated and stocked into wooden cages of dimension 60 cm × 50cm × 45 cm and filled with loamy soil up to 15 cm thickness. The Giant African land snail A. marginata in each group were fed ad libtum with plant food materials for 90 days during the rainy season. Archachatina marginata eggs were searched for daily in the enclosure of each group, collected eggs were weighed, egg length and width measured, and incubated group by group. Hatchlings from the incubated eggs each group were collected, weighed, shell length and width measured and recorded accordingly. The results indicated that the GALS A. marginata Group D laid the eggs that had the highest mean weight (5.3 ± 0.1 g), mean length (2.5 ± 0.1 cm) and mean width (1.9 ± 0.1 cm). While those Group A laid the smallest eggs that had the lightest mean weight (2.8 ± 0.1 g), mean length (2.1 ± 0.1 cm) and mean width (1.5 ± 0.1 cm). Significant differences (p<0.05) existed among each of the parameters of weight, length, and width of the eggs from adult Archachatina marginata in all the treatment groups, this pointing to the dependency of egg characteristics of Archachatina marginata on the adult that laid the eggs. Similar incubation period of 30 days was recorded in all the groups. The hatchlings weight, length and width were found to depend on the eggs weight, length and width of A. marginata incubated.

Treatment of old historical wooden houses with synthetic preservative lined with chemical pesticide were known to cause hazards to human and the environment. Gelam tree crude extract was investigated in this study to explore its potential to repel wood damaging carpenter ants in order to reduce the use of hazardous pesticides and attack on the timber by wood boring insects. The crude extract from Gelam tree stem (Melaleuca cajuputi) was extracted by sequential extraction using hexane, dichloromethane and methanol. The repellent activity was tested at 20% w/v concentration using World Health Organization (WHO) recommended method on ant repellent testing for 3 hrs with 15 min’s interval. All the extracts showed significant repellent activity on the tested Camponotus sp. ants. The toxicity activity on Camponotus sp. was determined by using 10% w/v concentration of crude extract mixed with honey. Toxicity activity of methanol extract (84.3%) showed the high toxicity percentage against Camponotus sp. The LT50 recorded for Camponotus sp. tested with hexane, dichloromethane and methanol crude extract were 19.11 hrs, 11.89 hrs and 9.43 hrs respectively. This study indicated that M. cajuputi stem has potential to be further studied and developed as natural insecticide against carpenter ants for the application on wooden buildings.

This study explains matting behavior and nesting preference of Taphozous longimanus. The mean copulation duration (x̅) was 6.17 minutes and mean copulation interval (x̅) was 10.50 minutes. T. longimanus always found to live in close association of 5 to 16 individuals. The species were found to roost in unused loft, room and crack on wall where light does not reach. Total seven houses were marked as roosting place all of which were more than 20 years old in same village.