''Urticicola umbrosus'' is a species 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

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

Hygromiidae Hygromiidae is a taxonomic family of small to medium-sized air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Helicoidea. Helicellidae Ihering, 1909 Anatomy Some snails in genera within this family create ...

, the hairy snails and their allies.Fauna Europaea: ''Urticicola umbrosus''
/ref> MolluscaBase eds. (2023). MolluscaBase. Urticicola umbrosus (C. Pfeiffer, 1828). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=1002505 on 2023-01-17

Description

The height of the shell varies between 5.5 mm and 7 mm; its width varies between 10 mm and 13 mm. The thin shell is fragile and translucent. It is turbinately globose, closely wound. The spire has a flat and conical shape. It contains 5½

whorl 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 ...

s. The periphery of the last one shows a blunt ridge, that disappears before it reaches the aperture. The aperture is obliquely lunate. The umbilicus is very wide and measures about half the width of the shell.

Distribution

This species occurs primarily in mountain forests in Austria, Germany, Italy,

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

and Slovenia. Urticicola-umbrosus-map-eur-nm-moll

References

* Bank, R. A.; Neubert, E. (2017). Checklist of the land and freshwater Gastropoda of Europe. Last update: July 16th, 2017 * Sysoev, A. V. & Schileyko, A. A. (2009). Land snails and slugs of Russia and adjacent countries. Sofia/Moskva (Pensoft). 312 pp., 142 plates.

External links

Pfeiffer, C. (1821-1828). Naturgeschichte deutscher Land- und Süsswasser-Mollusken. Weimar.
{{Commons category Hygromiidae Gastropods described in 1828