Testacella
Shelled backpack worm ( Testacella haliotidea Draparnaud, 1801)
The backpack snails ( Testacella ) are the only genus of the family Testacellidae from the subordination of terrestrial snails ( gastropod ). It is predatory gastropods strongly reduced housing. In Europe, six species occur.
Features
The housing are greatly reduced and sits like a small little cap at the rear end of the body. The animals are very slim and measure extended to about 12 cm, but they can also shrink greatly. Two grooves run from the shell to the body rear end to the front. They branch out laterally. The body color varies from yellow, cream to brown; sometimes the body is mottled with darker. The jaws are reduced, the radula has long, pointed, backward -looking teeth that allow you to hold the prey.
Life, the occurrence and distribution
The nocturnal representatives of the family are predators of earthworms, which in part be followed in their burrows. These are taken with the radula and swallowed whole. During the day the backpack snails hide in Erdröhren. Most species are synanthropic, which is explained by the abundant occurrence of earthworms in humus-rich garden soil. The family is widespread in the western Mediterranean area, the Mid-Atlantic Islands, the British Isles and western France. One type is now also detected in Germany. But they were already over into other regions of the world, eg New Zealand
System
The backpack snail family is the Nominatfamilie the superfamily Testa Cello Idea. It currently contains only the genus Testacella, but by most authors into two subgenera, the Nominatuntergattung Testacella ( Testacella ) Cuvier, 1800 and Testacella ( Testacelloides ) AJ Wagner, is divided in 1914.
- Backpack snails ( Testacellidae Gray, 1840) Genus backpack snails ( Testacella Cuvier, 1800 ) Subgenus Testacella Cuvier, 1800 Testacella Barbei Lucas, 1958
- Testacella bisulcata Risso, 1826
- Testacella bracciai Nardi & Bodon, 2011
- Testacella fischeriana Bourguignat, 1861
- Shelled backpack worm ( Testacella haliotidea Draparnaud, 1801)
- Brown backpack worm ( Testacella maugei ) A. Ferussac, 1819
- Testacella riedeli Giusti, Manganelli & Schembri, 1996
- Yellow backpack worm ( Testacella scutulum ) GB Sowerby I 1820
- Testacella gestroi Issel, 1873