''Sphincterochila cariosula'' 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

Sphincterochilidae Sphincterochilidae is a taxonomic family of medium-sized air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Helicoidea (according to the taxonomy of the Gastropoda by Bouchet & Rocroi, 2005). In the fossil re ...

. MolluscaBase eds. (2022). MolluscaBase. Sphincterochila cariosula (Michaud, 1833). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: https://marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=1050620 on 2022-06-19

Subspecies

* ''Sphincterochila cariosula cariosula'' (Michaud, 1833) * ''Sphincterochila cariosula hispanica'' (

Westerlund Westerlund may refer to: * Westerlund 1, a star cluster * Westerlund 2, a star cluster * 2902 Westerlund, a Main-belt Asteroid People with the surname * Anna Westerlund (born 1989), Finnish footballer * Bengt Westerlund (1921–2008), Swedish ...

, 1891) - synonym ''Helix hispanica''. The subspecies is distributed in Spain.

Distribution

The indigenous distribution of the species is

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

. The species was introduced to

Vélez-Málaga Vélez-Málaga () is a municipality and the capital of the Axarquía comarca in the province of Málaga, in the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia. It is the most important city in the comarca. Locally it is referred to as Vélez. Vélez- ...

in southern

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

and to western

Mallorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest island in the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain and located in the Mediterranean. The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Bal ...

in historical times.''Species summary for Sphincterochila cariosula''
AnimalBase, last modified 26-09-2008 by F. Welter Schultes, accessed 12 April 2009.

Shell description

The

shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses ** Thin-shell structure Science Biology * Seashell, a hard ou ...

is subimperforate, carinate, globosely convex above, carious, somewhat flattened below, soiled white, with a tubercularly eroded filiform sutural carina. The shell has 5 somewhat flattened

whorls A whorl ( or ) is an individual circle, oval, volution or equivalent in a whorled pattern, which consists of a spiral or multiple concentric objects (including circles, ovals and arcs). Whorls in nature File:Photograph and axial plane floral d ...

. The upper margin of the

aperture In optics, an aperture is a hole or an opening through which light travels. More specifically, the aperture and focal length of an optical system determine the cone angle of a bundle of rays that come to a focus in the image plane. An opt ...

is subdeflected. The width of the shell is 16–19 mm and the height is 11–15 mm.

Habitat

''Sphincterochila cariosula'' occurs in

scrubland Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominance (ecology), dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, Herbaceous plant, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally or ...

s and in

semidesert A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi-ar ...

References

This article incorporates public domain text from reference.

George Washington Tryon George Washington Tryon Jr. (20 May 1838 – 5 February 1888) was an American malacologist who worked at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. Biography George Washington Tryon was the son of Edward K. Tryon and Adeline Savidt. ...

, Jr. 1887. Manual of Conchology. Second series: Pulmonata
Volume 3
Helicidae - Volume I
page 13
��14. * Bank, R. A.; Neubert, E. (2017). Checklist of the land and freshwater Gastropoda of Europe. Last update: July 16th, 2017

External links

Photo of ''Sphincterochila cariosula hispanica''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sphincterochila Cariosula Sphincterochilidae Gastropods described in 1833