''Helicina aspersa'' 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 a

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 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 ...

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 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

Helicinidae Helicinidae is a family of small tropical land snails which have an operculum. They are terrestrial operculate gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Helicinoidea. These snails are not at all closely related to the air-breathing land snails, des ...

Distribution

This species lives in

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

."Mollusca"
. Diversidad Biológica Cubana, accessed 20 March 2011. (listed as "''Helicina adspersa'' Pfeiffer, 1839").Rios O. M. & Quinta M. H. (2010). "Larval Feeding Habits of the Cuban Endemic Firefly ''Alecton discoidalis'' Laporte (Coleoptera: Lampyridae)". ''

Psyche Psyche (''Psyché'' in French) is the Greek term for "soul" (ψυχή). Psyche may also refer to: Psychology * Psyche (psychology), the totality of the human mind, conscious and unconscious * ''Psyche'', an 1846 book about the unconscious by Car ...

'' 2010, Article ID 149879, 5 pages, .

Ecology

''Helicina aspersa'' is a tree dwelling species. Predators of ''Helicina aspersa'' include larvae of firefly bug ''

Alecton discoidalis ''Alecton discoidalis'' is a species of firefly in the beetle family Lampyridae, commonly known as the Cuban endemic firefly. The larvae of this species are predators on both pulmonate and operculate land snails. ''Alecton discoidalis'' is the t ...

''. On some occasions, the ''Helicina aspersa'' emit a protective foam which enables them to thwart the attack.

References

External links

Helicinidae Gastropods described in 1839 Endemic fauna of Cuba {{Helicinidae-stub