''Gyraulus albus'', common name white ramshorn, is a small
species of
freshwater snail
Freshwater snails are gastropod mollusks which live in fresh water. There are many different families. They are found throughout the world in various habitats, ranging from ephemeral pools to the largest lakes, and from small seeps and springs ...
, an
aquatic 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 ...
mollusk in the family
Planorbidae, the
ram's horn snails.
''Gyraulus albus'' is the
type species of the genus ''Gyraulus''.
Distribution
Palearctic
The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa.
The realm consists of several bioregions: the Euro-Sibe ...
:
* Belgium
*
Czech Republic[ Horsák M., Juřičková L., Beran L., Čejka T. & Dvořák L. (2010). "Komentovaný seznam měkkýšů zjištěných ve volné přírodě České a Slovenské republiky. nnotated list of mollusc species recorded outdoors in the Czech and Slovak Republics. '' Malacologica Bohemoslovaca'', Suppl. 1: 1-37]
PDF
- least concern (LC)
*
Germany
*
Hungary
*
Netherlands[ Gittenberger E., Janssen A. W., Kuijper W. J., Kuiper J. G. J., Meijer T., van der Velde G. & de Vries J. N. (2004). ''Nederlandse zoetwatermollusken. Nederlandse Fauna 2.'' KNNV uitgeverij . 288 pp., ]
152-153
.
*
Poland
*
Slovakia
*
Great Britain
*
Ireland
Habitat
This small snail lives in various types of freshwater habitats among weed and on bottom mud. It doesn't require a high level of
calcium.
Description
The shell of this species is rather small, reaching a height of 1.3 - 1.8 mm and a width of 4 – 7 mm. This shell has a discoid shape with 4 - 4½ body whorls that expand in the direction of the
aperture. This aperture and the whorls are curved and do not have a keel.
The shell of this species is white (sometimes darkened by mud deposits) and has a characteristic spiral sculpture.
References
Further reading
*V. Pfleger & June Chatfield, A guide to the snails of Britain and Europe; Hamlyn Publishing Group, London, 1988;
External links
''Gyraulus albus''at
AnimalBase
*
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1058436
albus
Albus may refer to:
* Albus (surname)
* Albinus (cognomen), or Albus, a Latin surname
* Albus (coin), ''groschen'' coin of the Holy Roman Empire
* Albus, a Geomantic figure
* 'Albus', a cultivar of Rosemary
Entertainment
* Albus Dumbledore ...
Palearctic molluscs
Gastropods described in 1774
Taxa named by Otto Friedrich Müller