''Backeljaia gigaxii'' is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of air-breathing

land snail A land snail is any of the numerous species of snail that live on land, as opposed to the sea snails and freshwater snails. ''Land snail'' is the common name for terrestrial gastropod mollusks that have shells (those without shells are known as ...

, terrestrial

pulmonate Pulmonata or pulmonates, is an informal group (previously an order, and before that a subclass) of snails and slugs characterized by the ability to breathe air, by virtue of having a pallial lung instead of a gill, or gills. The group includ ...

gastropod The gastropods (), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, from freshwater, and from land. T ...

mollusc Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is esti ...

in the family

Geomitridae Geomitridae is a Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic Family (biology), family of small to medium-sized air-breathing land snails, Terrestrial molluscs, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Helicoidea.MolluscaBase eds. (2021). M ...

. MolluscaBase eds. (2022). MolluscaBase. Backeljaia gigaxii (L. Pfeiffer, 1847). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=1308884 on 2022-07-24

Description

The 5.4-8.1 × 7.4-12.2 mm. shell of this species has, in comparison with ''

Candidula intersecta ''Xeroplexa intersecta'' is a species of air-breathing land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Geomitridae. MolluscaBase eds. (2022). MolluscaBase. Xeroplexa intersecta (Poiret, 1801). Accessed through: World Registe ...

'', whorls that increase more rapidly, the inside of the umbilicus is very narrow, but remarkably wider at last whorl. The shell is light brown or sandy-coloured with pale colour bands. It is usually flatter and larger than the shell of ''C. intersecta''.Animalbase (Welter-Schultes)
/ref>

Distribution

This species is known to occur in a number of

Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...

an countries and islands including: *

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

*France *Italy *Belgium *Netherlands *Germany *Spain

References

* Studer, S. (1820). Kurzes Verzeichnis der bis jetzt in unserm Vaterlande entdeckten Conchylien. Naturwissenschaftlicher Anzeiger der Allgemeinen Schweizerischen Gesellschaft für die Gesammten Naturwissenschaften, 3 (11): 83-90; (12): 91-94. Bern

External links

*
''Candidula gigaxii''
at Animalbase taxonomy, short description, distribution, biology, status (threats), images
''Candidula gigaxii''
images at Encyclopedia of Life
Pfeiffer, L. (1847-1848). Monographia heliceorum viventium. Sistens descriptiones systematicas et criticas omnium huius familiae generum et specierum hodie cognitarum. Volumen primum. Lipsiae (Brockhaus). (1): 1–160 (1847) [before 27.9.
(2): 161–321 (1847 [after 27.9.]); (3): i-xxxii, 321–484 (before 23.6.1848).]
Caziot, E. (1909). Description d'espèces nouvelles de mollusques terrestres et fluviatiles du département des Alpes-Maritimes. Bulletin de la Société zoologique de France. 34: 87-95, 99-104

Servain, G. (1880). Etude sur les Mollusques recueillis en Espagne et au Portugal. Saint-Germain: Imprimerie D. Bardin. 172 pp
gigaxii Gastropods described in 1847 {{Geomitridae-stub