Eucobresia diaphana

Ear -shaped glass snail ( Eucobresia diaphana )

The ear -shaped glass snail ( Eucobresia diaphana ) is a Halbnacktschneckenart from the family of glass snails ( Vitrinidae ), which is counted among the snails ( Pulmonata ).

Features

The body of the ear -shaped glass snail is usually colored deep black; However, animals also occur with light gray coat in the higher elevations. It reaches the extended state have a length up to about 2 cm. The housing is still relatively large ( in relation to the animal ), but the animal can no longer fully retract into the housing itself. It has to just over two turns and reaches a diameter of 7 mm and a height of 4.5 mm. It is strongly flattened with a large mouth. It is yellowish to whitish - translucent and thin. The cutaneous rim on the case mouth is relatively wide, the apex of the housing is covered generally by the mantle. The animals are, like all terrestrial snails hermaphrodites. The penis is in this way is relatively long with a retractor, the genital opening is relatively short.

Occurrence, habitat and food

The animals live in cool, damp places in the herbaceous vegetation of forests, between stones from the plains to the mountains ( in Switzerland to 2800 m). The main distribution area extends from the Pyrenees in the west over the Alps to the north-western Balkans. The worm but also occurs in northern France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany in small and isolated occurrences. It is in Mecklenburg- Vorpommern on the Red List of Threatened Species. In Poland it is limited to the extreme south. It lives on decaying plant parts.

System

The ear -shaped glass snail ( Eucobresia diaphana ) has several synonyms: . Vitrina heyne manni Koch 1871, Vitrina jetschini Westerlund 1886, Helix limacina Old 1812, Vitrina membranous Koch 1876, Vitrina villae Pollonera 1884 and Helicolimax vitrea A. Ferussac 1821 Some authors even distinguish a subspecies Eucobresia diaphana heyne manni Koch, 1871, which, however, has found general acceptance.