''Helicella itala'' 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 medium-sized, air-breathing land snail, a

terrestrial Terrestrial refers to things related to land or the planet Earth. Terrestrial may also refer to: * Terrestrial animal, an animal that lives on land opposed to living in water, or sometimes an animal that lives on or near the ground, as opposed to ...

pulmonate gastropod

mollusk 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 e ...

in the family Geomitridae, the hairy snails and their allies. MolluscaBase eds. (2021). MolluscaBase. Helicella itala (Linnaeus, 1758). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: http://marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=426387 on 2021-02-01 English common name is Heath snail. ;Subspecies: * ''Helicella itala itala'' (Linnaeus, 1758) * ''Helicella itala pampelonensis'' (A. Schmidt, 1855)

Life cycle

The size of the egg is 1.5 mm.Heller J.: ''Life History Strategies''. in Barker G. M. (ed.):
The biology of terrestrial molluscs
'. CABI Publishing, Oxon, UK, 2001, . 1-146, cited page: 428. Helicella itala dart

This species of snail makes and uses

love darts A love dart (also known as a gypsobelum, shooting darts, or just as darts) is a sharp, calcareous or chitinous dart which some hermaphroditic land snails and slugs create. Love darts are both formed and stored internally in a dart sac. These ...

during mating.

Description

The 12–20 mm. shell is broad and very depressed with an open coil forming a convex, low spire. The umbilicus is very wide. The whorls are slightly convex and have shallow sutures. The aperture is elliptical and lacks an internal rib. The surface (periostracum) is white or pale yellow-brown and dark brown or yellow-brown spiral bands and fine irregular growth ridges. Heath snail (Helicella itala) banded form, apical.jpg, banded form, apical side Heath snail (Helicella itala) banded form, umbilical.jpg, banded form, umbilical side Heath snail (Helicella itala) white form, apical.jpg, white form, apical side Heath snail (Helicella itala) white form, umbilical.jpg, white form, umbilical side

Distribution

The common Heath snail is a West Palearctic species found in the British Isles, France, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland, Denmark, Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, and Poland.

Habitat

The animals live on dry, exposed habitats, such as roadsides and railway embankments, vegetated sand dunes and rock boulders and short grassland. They rise up to 2000 m above sea level in the Alps and Pyrenees.

References

* Provoost, S.; Bonte, D. (Ed.) (2004). Animated dunes: a view of biodiversity at the Flemish coast evende duinen: een overzicht van de biodiversiteit aan de Vlaamse kust Mededelingen van het Instituut voor Natuurbehoud, 22. Instituut voor Natuurbehoud: Brussel, Belgium. . 416, ill., appendices pp.

External links

''Helicella itala ''
at

Animalbase AnimalBase is a project brought to life in 2004 and is maintained by the University of Göttingen, Germany. The goal of the AnimalBase project is to digitize early zoological literature, provide copyright-free open access to zoological works, and pr ...

taxonomy, short description, distribution, biology,status (threats), images
Linnaeus, C. (1758). Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Editio decima, reformata [10th revised edition
vol. 1: 824 pp. Laurentius Salvius: Holmiae] Helicella Palearctic molluscs Gastropods described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{Hygromiidae-stub