Fig 27. Muscle-powered eversion catapult mechanism in the clade Stylommatophora (species Cornu aspersum).

(A) The dart organ morphology, consisting of a fully developed love dart and a muscular dart sac. (B) Eversion of the dart sac, forcing the love dart to be externalized through the genital pore. (C–D) Piercing and release (at the corona) of the love dart into the mating partner. Drawings based on schematic drawings in [145]. Scale bare indicates the length of the love dart, which is in between 1–5.3 mm in length (longest dart found in Chilostoma cingulatum [146]).