Terrestrial Terror Round 2: Beech Scale vs. Mystery Snails

With the help of a fungal sidekick, The Bark Butcher was able to come from behind and beat out The Knapster, a favored snack of the honeybee. Another duo, the Mystery Snail Tag Team, sidelined a much smaller opponent: The Spiral of Doom.

Now the two pairs double-team each other. Can the Beech Scale suck the sap out of the Mystery Snails, or will these escargots leave their overwhelmingly rotting stench all over the ring?

Alias: The Bark Butcher

Legal name: Cryptococcus fagisuga

Home Turf: Europe

U.S. Fighting Debut: Michigan in 2000 and Wisconsin in September 2009

Agent: Accidental introduction by an unknown agent.

Preferred Great Lakes fighting arena: Michigan, Wisconsin and Ontario

Weight/Size class: 1 mm long

Fighting Skills:

• The Beech scale isn’t a “fun-guy” at all. The invasive critter feeds on tree sap, which paves the way for destructive fungi to invade unsuspecting trees. The resulting condition is referred to as the “Beech Bark Disease,” a growing problem in Great Lakes states.
• Dead trees ravished by the disease are a threat to campers. Although necessary, it’s difficult and costly to remove infested trees and branches.
• As Beech scales are feeding on tree sap, their legs become stuck to the surface. They spent their last moments tragically trapped by their own gluttony.

Alias: Oriental Tag Team (Japanese Mystery Snail | Chinese Mystery Snail)

Legal name: Cipangopaludina chinensis malleata | Cipangopaludina japonica

Home Turf: Southeast Asia to Japan and eastern Russia | Japan, Taiwan, and Korea

U.S. Fighting Debut: From 1931 to 1942 in the Great Lakes via the Niagara River, which flows into Lake Ontario. | Lake Erie in the 1940s.

Agent: Likely released from an aquarium into the Niagara River | Deliberately released to the Great Lakes; intentionally stocked as food for the channel catfish

Preferred Great Lakes fighting arena: Lake Erie, Lake Ontario and Lake Michigan, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Wisconsin and New York. | Lake Michigan, Lake Erie, Wisconsin

Weight/Size class: Can reach 65 mm | Can reach 50 mm; up to 65 mm in Lake Erie

Fighting Skills:

• The Chinese mystery snail is more widespread, but the Japanese mystery snail is more of a nuisance. They might not stand a chance alone, but together, they are the ultimate water cloggers.
• The Japanese mystery snails are a scourge to Lake Erie fisherman, who have caught up to two tons in one haul in the past.
• The sludge-eaters often clog filter screens of water intake, another nuisance to fisherman.
• The snails threaten native gastropods and serve as vectors for the transmission of parasites and disease. The Japanese snail is a host to Angiostrongylus cantonensis larvae in Taiwan, a species associated with eosinophilic meningitis.

Life Expectancy: Females: 5 years, Males: 3 years | Females: 8 years

Offspring: 70 to 100 in a lifetime | 10 to 120 young