Přestože jsou suchozemští plži potravou mnoha skupin predátorů, víme velmi málo o intenzitě a vlivu predace na populace a společenstva plžů. Hlavní obranu proti predaci poskytuje plžům ulita, s níž se musí predátor vypořádat, aby se dostal až ke své kořisti. Prázdné ulity mohou ve vápnitém prostředí přetrvat dlouhou dobu a poskytnout mnoho zajímavých informací. Pokud se na jejich povrchu nebo uvnitř zachovají specifické doklady predace, lze toho využít k odhadu míry predačního tlaku a určení druhu predátora. Tímto způsobem můžeme také snadno rekonstruovat potravní preference jednotlivých predátorů.

Citovaná a použitá literatura:

BARKER, Gary M. (ed.). Natural enemies of terrestrial molluscs. CABI, 2004.
KONUMA, Junji; CHIBA, Satoshi. Trade-offs between force and fit: extreme morphologies associated with feeding behavior in carabid beetles. The American Naturalist, 2007, 170.1: 90-100.
LIEW, Thor-Seng; SCHILTHUIZEN, Menno. Association between shell morphology of micro-land snails (genus Plectostoma) and their predator’s predatory behaviour. PeerJ, 2014, 2: e329.
MORII, Yuta; PROZOROVA, Larisa; CHIBA, Satoshi. Parallel evolution of passive and active defence in land snails. Scientific reports, 2016, 6: 35600.
NERUDOVÁ-HORSÁKOVÁ, Jana; MURPHY, William L.; VALA, Jean-Claude. Biology and immature stages of Pherbellia limbata (Diptera: Sciomyzidae), a parasitoid of the terrestrial snail Granaria frumentum. Zootaxa, 2016, 4117.1: 048-062.
BRANDMAYR, Pietro; BRANDMAYR, T. Zetto. Food and feeding behaviour of some Licinus species (Coleoptera Carabidae Licinini). Monitore Zoologico Italiano - Italian Journal of Zoology, 1986, 20.2: 171-181.

Although land snails serve as food for many predators, rather little is known about the intensity of predation on land-snail populations and communities. The shell – being the main defence strategy against predation – needs to be interfered with by a predator for it to reach its prey. In a calcium-rich environment, snail shells persist for a long time and thus provide a valuable source of information in the form of the external and internal damage left by predators. These specific marks can be used to identify a particular predator, as well as to estimate predation pressure on snails. This approach allows us to easily reconstruct the food preferences of individual predators.