''Napaeus barquini'' 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 ...

, 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 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 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

Enidae Enidae is a family of air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks. MolluscaBase eds. (2020). MolluscaBase. Enidae B. B. Woodward, 1903 (1880). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: http://www.marinespecies ...

. Endemic fauna of the Canary Islands

Distribution

This species is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

La Gomera La Gomera () is one of Spain's Canary Islands, located in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa. With an area of , it is the third smallest of the eight main islands of this archipelago. It belongs to the province of Santa Cruz de Tene ...

the Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...

Ecology

''Napaeus barquini'' lives on open rocks. ''Napaeus barquini'' actively adds lichens to its shell as a

camouflage Camouflage is the use of any combination of materials, coloration, or illumination for concealment, either by making animals or objects hard to see, or by disguising them as something else. Examples include the leopard's spotted coat, the ...

.Allgaier C. (2007). "Active Camouflage with Lichens in a Terrestrial Snail, ''Napaeus'' (''N.'') ''barquini'' Alonso and Ibáñez, 2006 (Gastropoda, Pulmonata, Enidae)". ''

Zoological Science ''Zoological Science'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the Zoological Society of Japan covering the broad field of zoology. The journal was established in 1984 as a result of the merger of the ''Zoological Magazine'' (1888-1983) ...

'' 24(9): 869-876. .Tuebingen University (2007, October 31)
"Snails As Clever Builders: Active Camouflage In A Snail"
ScienceDaily. Accessed October 8, 2010.

References

Enidae Gastropods described in 2006 {{Enidae-stub