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| The families of non-marine molluscs of Britain and Ireland (slugs, snails and mussels) |
Morphology. Snails, with a conspicuous, spiral, univalve shell.
The animal with two pairs of tentacles. Eyes at the tips of the posterior tentacles.
The shell inoperculate; rising-spiral; 5.5 whorled (Cochlicopa), or 6.5–7 whorled (Azeca); typically dextral; 4.5–7.5 mm in its maximum dimension; higher than wide; 4.5–7.5 mm high; 2.1–3.2 mm wide; height about 2.3–2.5 x the width; high-spired and tapered gradually from the body whorl. The height of the spire about 0.46–0.54 x that of the shell. The spire obtuse. The shell shortly fusiform to ovoid-symmetric, or tear-shaped; rather deeply sutured, or shallowly sutured. The body whorl moderately convex. The whorls of the spire moderately convex. The whorls gently neither shouldered nor keeled (to almost parallel). The aperture obliquely pear-shaped; bearing teeth (Azeca), or bearing calluses. The columella smooth to folded. The shell without an umbilicus. The shell thick-lipped (the edge somewhat thickened and bluntly rounded, without a deflected lip); thin and translucent; yellowish horn-coloured, sometimes tinged with red or green; plain (smooth and glossy).
General biology, ecology. Terrestrial. In mosses, herbage and ground litter in diverse locations - woods, fields, hedge banks, marshes, sandhills, etc.
Hermaphrodite.
Classification. Gastropoda; Pulmonata.
Representation in Britain and Ireland. “Moss snails”: Azeca (1), Cochlicopa (3).
Illustrations. • Azeca goodalli and Cochlicopa lubrica, with Clausiliidae, Chondrinidae, Enidae, Ferussaciidae and Pupillidae. COCHLICOPIDAE. 22–23, Cochlicopa lubrica (Müller), "Slippery Moss Snail", 5–7 mm. 26–27, Azeca goodalli (Férussac), "Three-toothed Moss Snail", 5.5–7.0 mm. CLAUSILIIDAE. 10, Macrogastra rolphii (Turton), "Rolph's Door Snail", 11–14 mm. 11, Clausilia bidentata (Ström), "Common Door Snail", or "Two-toothed Door Snail". 12, Clausilia dubia Draparnaud, "Craven Door Snail, 11–14(-16) mm. 13, Balea biplicata (Montagu), "Thames Door Snail", 16–18 mm. 14, Cochlodina laminata (Montagu), "Plaited Door Snail", 15–17 mm. 15, Balea perversa (L.), "Tree Snail", 8–10 mm. CHONDRINIDAE. 8–9, Abida secale (Draparnaud), "Large Chrysalis Snail", 6.0–8.5 mm. PUPILLIDAE. 3–4, Pupilla muscorum (L.), "Moss Chrysalis Snail", 3–4 mm. 5–6, Lauria cylindracea (da Costa), "Common Chrysalis Snail", 3.0–4.4 mm. 7, Leiostyla anglica (Wood), "English Chrysalis Snail", 3.0–3.7 mm. ENIDAE. 16, Ena montana (Draparnaud), "Mountain Bulin", 14–17 mm.; 17–18, Ena obscura (Müller), "Lesser Bulin", 8.5–9.0 mm. FERUSSACIIDAE. 28, Cecilioides acicula (Müller), "Blind Snail" or "Agate Snail", 4.5–5.5 mm. From Ellis (1926); all displayed at the same enlargement, to assist comparisons. • Azeca goodalli and Cochlicopa lubrica (live animals; Reeve). COCHLICOPIDAE. 1, Cochlicopa lubrica (Müller), "Slippery Moss Snail". 2, Azeca goodalli (Férussac), "Three-toothed Moss Snail". From Reeve (1863, with approximate scales added). • Cochlicopa lubrica, with Aciculidae, Clausiliidae, Ellobiidae, Ferussaciidae (Adams). CLAUSILIIDAE. 1a and 1b, Clausilia bidentata (Strom), "Common Door Snail, Two-toothed Snail". 2a and 2b, Macrogastra rolphii (Turton), "Rolph’s Door Snail". 3a and 3b, Cochlodina laminata (Montagu), "Plaited Door Snail", with detail of an oral lamina. 4a and 4b, Balea biplicata (Montagu), "Thames Door Snail". 5, Balea perversa (Linn.), "Tree Snail". COCHLICOPIDAE. 6, Cochlicopa lubrica (Müller), "Slippery Moss Snail". 7a and 7b, Azeca goodalli (Férussac), "Three-toothed Moss Snail". FERUSSACIIDAE. 8, Cecilioides acicula (Müller), "Blind Snail, Agate Snail". ELLOBIIDAE. 9, Carychium minimum Müller, "Least Herald Snail, Sedge Snail". ACICULIDAE. 11a, Acicula fusca (Montagu), "Point Snail", with (11a) detail of the operculum. TO BE IDENTIFIED. 12, Stenogyra goodallii Miller, name not located in recent lists, and identity not established. From Adams (1890).
We advise against extracting comparative information from the descriptions. This is much more easily achieved using the DELTA data files or the interactive key, which allows access to the character list, illustrations, full and partial descriptions, diagnostic descriptions, differences and similarities between taxa, lists of taxa exhibiting or lacking specified attributes, and distributions of character states within any set of taxa. See also Guidelines for using data taken from Web publications.
Cite this publication as: ‘Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M.J. 2005 onwards. The families of non-marine molluscs of Britain and Ireland (slugs, snails and mussels). Version: 5th August 2019. delta-intkey.com’.
