''Helix lucorum'' 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 large, edible, 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 Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Helicidae Helicidae is a large, diverse family of small to large, air-breathing land snails, sometimes called the "typical snails." A number of species in this family are valued as food items, including ''Cornu aspersum'' (formerly ''Helix aspersa'') the b ...

, the typical snails. MolluscaBase eds. (2020). MolluscaBase. Helix lucorum Linnaeus, 1758. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: http://marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=1050278 on 2020-05-02

Description

Adult snails weigh about 20-25 g.Danilova A.B. & Grinkevich L. N. (2012). "Failure of Long-Term Memory Formation in Juvenile Snails Is Determined by Acetylation Status of Histone H3 and Can Be Improved by NaB Treatment". '' PLoS ONE'' 7(7): e41828. . The width of the shell is 35-60 mm. The height of the shell is 25–45 mm. This species of snail makes and uses

love dart 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 ...

Distribution

The native distribution is the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historically ...

Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

and, arguably, the

Balkans The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...

. It has also invaded many other regions since ancient times, likely assisted by humans.Korábek O., Juřičková L., Balashov I., Petrusek A
The contribution of ancient and modern anthropogenic introductions to the colonization of Europe by the land snail ''Helix lucorum'' Linnaeus, 1758 (Helicidae)
//

Contributions to Zoology ''Contributions to Zoology'' (formerly known as ''Bijdragen tot de Dierkunde'') is a scientific journal that started in 1848 as a publication of the Committee in charge of the library of the Dutch Royal Zoological Society "Natura Artis Magistra" ...

. — 2018. — 87 (2). — P. 61—74. Eastern native range with main genetic diversity of the species: *

(

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

) *

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

Mumladze L. (2013). "Shell size differences in ''Helix lucorum'' Linnaeus, 1758 (Mollusca: Gastropoda) between natural and urban environments". ''

Turkish Journal of Zoology Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

'' 37: 1-6. *

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...

* Northern

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

Balkans (probably native): * Albania * Bosnia and Herzegovina *

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

* Greece * Macedonia * Serbia * Turkey Other countries: *

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

* Syria * Russia - could be native in Caucasus, invasive in some other regions *

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

- probably invasive *

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

- probably invasive *

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

- probably invasive *

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

- invasive, in

Crimea Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...

("''Helix taurica'' Krynicki, 1833") at least since early 19 century, probably much longer, these populations originated from

; other colonies of a different lineage also appear since 2000s in mainland part of Southern Ukraine and in Crimea as wellBalashov I. & Gural-Sverlova N. (2012). "An annotated checklist of the terrestrial molluscs of Ukraine". ''

Journal of Conchology The ''Journal of Conchology'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by The Conchological Society of Great Britain and Ireland, covering research in conchology and malacology. It claims to be the world's oldest continuing publication on t ...

'' ''41''(1): 91-109. *

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

- invasive, since 2009, as of 2011 the only locality is

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

Žižkov Žižkov is a cadastral district of Prague, Czech Republic. Most of Žižkov lies in the municipal and administrative district of Prague 3, except for very small parts which are in Prague 8 and Prague 10. Prior to 1922, Žižkov was an indep ...

Horsák M., Juřičková L., Beran L., Čejka T. & Dvořák L. (2010). "Komentovaný seznam měkkýšů zjištěných ve volné přírodě České a Slovenské republiky. nnotated list of mollusc species recorded outdoors in the Czech and Slovak Republics. ''

Malacologica Bohemoslovaca ''Malacologica Bohemoslovaca'' is a peer-reviewed open access scientific journal covering all aspects of malacology. It was published by the Slovak Academy of Sciences since 2005. It is published by the Department of Botany and Zoology, Faculty of ...

'', Suppl. 1: 1-37
PDF
Peltanová A., Petrusek A., Kment P. & Juřičková L. (2011). "A fast snail's pace: colonization of Central Europe by Mediterranean gastropods". ''Biological Invasions'' 14(4): 759-764. . *

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

- invasive, since 2013, as of 2014 the only locality is in

Bratislava Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approxim ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

- invasive *

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

- invasive, since 2009, at Wimbledon

Ecology

The diameter of the egg is 4.4 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. Juvenile snails that are two to three months old weigh 0.5-0.9 g.

Human use

Measurement of

DNA damage DNA repair is a collection of processes by which a cell identifies and corrects damage to the DNA molecules that encode its genome. In human cells, both normal metabolic activities and environmental factors such as radiation can cause DNA da ...

in ''H. lucorum'' collected from environmental sites can be used for evaluating soil pollution at these sites.Sargsyan A, Hovhannisyan G, Simonyan A, Arakelyan M, Arzumanyan M, Aroutiounian R. Application of land snail Helix lucorum for evaluation of genotoxicity of soil pollution. Mutat Res Genet Toxicol Environ Mutagen. 2022 Jun;878:503500. doi: 10.1016/j.mrgentox.2022.503500. Epub 2022 May 6. PMID: 35649673 DNA damage in ''H. lucorum'' haemocytes and digestive gland cells is determined by the

comet assay A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process that is called outgassing. This produces a visible atmosphere or coma, and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena are ...

. ''Helix lucorum'' is used in cuisine as

escargot Snails are considered edible in many areas such as the Mediterranean region, Africa, or Southeast Asia, while in other cultures, snails are seen as a taboo food. In American English, edible land snails are also called escargot, taken from the Fren ...

References

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20120529085410/http://szmn.sbras.ru/picts/Mollusca/Helix_lucorum.htm
TODO SOBRE CARACOLES
Helix (gastropod) Gastropods described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{Helicidae-stub