Helicella itala
Common heath snail ( Helicella itala )
The common heath snail, also Western heath snail ( Helicella itala ) ( synonym: Helicella ericetorum (OF Müller) ) is a species of snail from the family of deciduous snails ( Hygromiidae ), the ( gastropod ) is counted for subordination of terrestrial snails. It is a very locally abundant type, but tends to these sites for proliferation.
Features
The body is flattened with low spire, almost disc-shaped. It measures 5-12 × 9-25 mm. There will be 5 ½ -6 ½ curved, regularly increasing whorls formed; these form a flat seam. The wide umbilicus occupies about a third of the total diameter. The last turn is initially easy, back strongly lowered to the mouth of the winding axis. The mouth is elliptical and is oblique to the axis of coiling. Normally, no lip is formed, the edge is hardly bent rather sharply and only the bottom and sides slightly expanded The outside is white, slightly brownish, yellowish or reddish and very weak with pale to dark brown bands provided. The band pattern is highly variable. It is merely provided with fine, somewhat irregular Anwachstreifen.
The soft body of the animal is yellowish white to brownish yellow, the snail has slightly darker sensor.
Geographic occurrence and habitat
The common heath snail is found in the British Isles, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland, Denmark, Germany, Austria, Czech Republic and Poland. She lives on dry, exposed habitats, such as roadsides and railway embankments, overgrown dunes and rocky boulders and short calcareous grassland. In the Alps and the Pyrenees, the nature rises to 2000 m above sea level.
Way of life
The common heath snail can reach an age of 2 ½ to 3 years. She holds a no pronounced dormancy and is also active on mild winter days. In general, there are two reproductive periods, in March / April and the end of August to November. In mild winters, the propagation can already start earlier. Eggs are laid 6-22 days after copulation. Eggs are laid in a self-dug cavity in the ground. The number of eggs varies from 26 and 68 eggs per clutch. After oviposition, the cavity is closed again. The slightly elliptical eggs measure 1.2 to 1.6 mm in diameter. They are whitish and have in the shell embedded lime crystals. After about 28 to 36 days, the young snails hatch as miniature adults. They leave after a few days the cavity in which the eggs were deposited.
The common heath snail feeds on Moder fabrics and withered plant parts.