Oxychilus cellarius

Keller- glass snail ( Oxychilus cellarius )

The cellar - glass snail ( Oxychilus cellarius ) is a land snail from the family of gloss snails ( Oxychilidae ); this family belongs to the suborder of terrestrial snails ( gastropod ). It is pretty common in agricultural areas especially.

Features

The body is almost disc-shaped with slightly curved thread. It measures 9-11 mm, rarely up to 14 in diameter. It has 5.5 to 6 turns which increase moderately. The umbilicus is funnel-shaped and open. The surface is almost smooth and shiny. Only weak growth lines are formed. The top of the housing is gray yellowish, the lower and much brighter shade of yellow. The body is gray-blue, the foot light gray. More rarely, the entire housing is bright yellow; then the animal's body is bright yellow.

Occurrence, lifestyle and dissemination

The species occurs in deciduous forests still below the leaves and debris. Very often, the species is also in the cultural landscape in brick rubble, in a wet basement, rotting wood and rubbish heaps, even in caves. The species is primarily carnivorous and eats other snails and their eggs. She also eats the egg masses of larger slugs such as the Spanish slug ( Arion vulgaris). The range of the species extends across Western, Central and Northern Europe. The eastern limit of distribution extends through Poland and Slovakia. You already missing in Hungary. In Scandinavia, it is limited to the coastal areas. She has since been deported almost worldwide.

System

The genus Oxychilus is divided by some authors in up to six subgenera. The cellar - glass snail is attributed in this classification of Nominatuntergattung Oxychilus ( Oxychilus ). It is the type species of the genus ( and subgenus ) Oxychilus Fitzinger, 1833.