Helicopsis striata

Helicopsis striata from Lower Austria

The Striped heath snail ( Helicopsis striata ) belongs to the terrestrial gastropods of the leaves snail family ( Hygromiidae ). It is a small land snail, which - if known - feeds mainly on dead plants, lichens, and the like.

Features

The Striped heath snail has a whitish housing, which has often dark and discontinuous bands. The surface of the housing is characteristic ribbed rough and irregular. The individual whorls of the housing are flattened on the top, but the sides well rounded. The suture between the whorls is moderately deep and the mouth of dealing descends slightly before the mouth from. The opening is rounded, and may have a weak mouth lip on the inside. The navel (umbilicus ) is moderately far (about 1.5 mm) and can take up to one sixth of the total circumference of the housing.

Dissemination

The Striped heath snail is found in all of Europe, between the Alsace and the Saarland in the west and Moldova in the east, as well as in the Ukraine and Turkey. In an isolated area on Öland, the species occurs also in Sweden, its northernmost locality.

Habitats and biology

The Striped heath snail is a steppe type and lives in dry, open habitats, often on calcareous. In Central and Northern Europe, many of the occurrences of relics from the last ice age, as here, a large area dominated steppe vegetation.

Subspecies

In a small area in Lower Austria the subspecies Helicopsis striata austriaca lives (Austrian heath snail), in sandy steppes of Hungary Helicopsis striata hungarica (Hungarian heath snail). These subspecies are endemic and accordingly sensitive to environmental changes, particularly by the absence of characteristic heathland grazing ( intensification of use, cessation of use and overgrown with bushes ), obstruction and use of chemicals in agriculture in small areas.

Subspecies externally similar and not always different from each other based on the shells. A safe distinction can be made only on the basis of anatomical features or sequencing of DNA.

Threats and conservation

The deposits are mostly individuenarm and scattered, and the animals active only when wet and / or at night. Therefore, there are hardly any good estimates of the stocks, as they are observed only consuming and difficult. In Central Europe by habitat changes ( Control, abandoning the traditional grazing of areas, intensification of use, etc.) have declined dramatically over the stocks. Since the nature of the Austrian localities has declined dramatically, it is threatened in Germany and Austria as extinction ( Critically Endangered CR) classified.

Rights- is only the subspecies Helicopsis striata ssp. austriaca. It is a priority species to be protected under the Habitats Directive of the EU.