Pupilla muscorum

Moss dolls screw ( Pupilla muscorum )

The Moss dolls screw ( Pupilla muscorum ), also moss doll is a species of snail from the family of dolls snails to the subordination of terrestrial snails ( gastropod ) is expected.

Features

The housings are available with 3 to 6 mm in height and about 1.7 mm in diameter quite small. It is cylindrical in shape with a rounded apex. The six to seven whorls are slightly convex. Often the last whorl is slightly lower than the penultimate handling. The mouth is round with a thickened, but not or only slightly folded aperture rim. It is formed a strong neck ridge. The mouth is often unperforated, but occasionally a so-called Parietalzahn is available. The shell is relatively thick, the upper surface is smooth or only finely striated, not shiny and brown to reddish brown. The animal is small, the soft body dark in color with some lighter sides and a lighter foot. The upper tentacles are moderately long, the lower tentacles very short.

Life, the occurrence and distribution

The Moss dolls snail lives on calcareous subsoil and dry sites such as dry grass, dry stone walls and boulder fields. It also occurs in dry coastal dunes. In the Alps, it rises to 1500 m. The distribution is Holarctic.

System

The Zweigezähnte dolls screw ( Pupilla bigranata ( Rossmaessler, 1839) ) is usually held only for one type of moss dolls screw in the older literature. In the recent literature whose status has as an independent species but enforced.