Cecilioides acicula
Blind screw ( Cecilioides acicula )
The blind worm ( Cecilioides acicula ), also called Common blind screw or pin worm, is a species of snail from the subordination of terrestrial snails ( gastropod ). It is a small snail that lives almost exclusively in the soil and is blind.
Features
The housing is high, slim and quite small ( 4.5 to 5.5 mm high and 1.2 mm wide). The apex is bluntly rounded. It has 5.5 weakly convex, regularly increasing whorls. The lateral line is therefore almost straight. The shell is very thin, smooth and shiny, translucent to transparent. Only empty shells are whitish- opaque with time. The mouth opening is pointed - oval along; it reaches approximately one third of the overall housing height.
The soft body is yellowish - white and translucent. The animals can retreat completely into the housing.
Reproduction
Mating takes place in late May. Egg-laying begins in early June. The animals are mostly based on a few, very large, kalkschalige, spherical eggs that can reach a diameter of 0.75 mm, an amazing size for such a small animal. Eggs are laid individually, a total of only about 11 to 13 eggs are produced, from which, after a few days the young hatch finished ( ovoviviparous ).
Occurrence and life
The blind worm is widespread in southern, central and eastern Europe. In the north, the range extends to southern Scandinavia and northern England. In Switzerland, the species is found up to 1800 m altitude. She has since been deported even after Bermuda, North America, Mexico and New Zealand. The animals live underground in the gap systems of the soil and in boulder fields, rock crevices and caves up to about 40 cm, more rarely to 70 cm depth, and more. Occasionally, they also occur in the uppermost soil layers and under cushions of moss. They feed on fungi.