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Abbreviations used: W: Width (of shell); H: Height; N: Number of whorls.
Explanation of
shell characters as means of identification.
 Carthusian snail (Monacha cartusiana). |
 [RN] |
Description: The Carthusian snail has got a milky grey white to yellowish white shell, whose bulbous whorls are coiled to a flat cone. Near the aperture, the shell may be of reddish or brown colour. Translucent brown bands can be visible, becoming paler towards the shell mouth. The umbilicus is very narrow and partially covered by the shell mouth lip.
Site: W: 9 - 15 mm; H: 6 - 10 mm; N: 5 ½ - 6 ½.
Habitat and Distribution: The Carthusian snail lives in sunny and dry bushes and grassy slopes, hedges and street sides in lower altitudes, above 500 m (1500 feet) above sea level it becomes rare. The area of distribution covers the complete European part of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea region, in the west from France to South-eastern England and the Southern Netherlands, in Germany in the Rhine Valley, in the East until Hungary, dispersedly into Slovakia and Eastern Austria. The species has often been introduced and so frequently occurs in isolated places.
Gallery:
Carthusian Snail (Monacha cartusiana).
Gallery:
Carthusian Snail (Monacha cartusiana) in Mainz, Germany (there this
species occurs together with Helicella itala and probably a Cernuella
species).
Among other snail species, Monacha cartusiana may serve as an intermediate host to Dicrocoelium lanceolatum, the lesser liver fluke.
 Inkarnatschnecke (Monachoides incarnatus). |
 [RN] |
Description: The incarnate snail's name comes from the reddish shell area ear the shell mouth. The remainder of the shell usually is less reddish, but more yellowish horn coloured to reddish brown. The shell surface is nearly smooth with a fine pattern of scales. The shell coiled to a low conical shape gives the shell an overall flat globular form. In grown-up specimens the apertural lip is distinct and swollen at the lower rim. The umbilicus is narrow, but open and only occasionally covered by the apertural lip.
Size: W: 13 - 16 mm; H: 9 - 11 mm.
Habitat and Distribution: The incarnate snail is a ground snail living in the leaf cover of moderately humid forests, under bushes and in rock rubble. Only juveniles crawl up low plant stems. The distribution area of the Central European snail goes until Central France in the West, in the South from the Southern Alps to Bulgaria, in the East until the Western Carpathians. In the North German Plain the species occurs up to the River Oder, in the North until Southern Sweden.
Gallery:
Incarnate snail (Monachoides incarnatus).
 Eastern or white heath snail (Xerolenta obvia). |
 [RN] |
Description: The Eastern or white heath snail's shell (Xerolenta obvia) is white, with a finely striped or ribbed surface. The bands are dark brown to black and often dissolved into spots. The apertural rim of the slightly oblique and rounded shell mouth is straight and sharp. The umbilicus takes about a quarter of the shell's overall diameter, in the terminal whorl its diameter grows.
Size: W: 14 - 20 mm; H: 7 - 10 mm; N: 5 - 6.
Habitat and Distribution: The Eastern heath snail lives in steppes and on dry grass slopes. Large numbers of individuals may be found aestivating in the vegetation. The area of distribution of Xerolenta obvia stretches from Asia Minor over the Eastern and Central Balkan peninsula and the Carpathian countries up to the Baltic Sea's Southern Coast and to Southern France. The Western border of the distribution area in Germany runs from Heidelberg to Lübeck.
Differences: Xerolenta obvia is different from the following species in having a narrower umbilicus and a wider apertural whorl not descending distinctively to the aperture.
 Western heath snail (Helicella itala) [RN] |
 Western heath snail (Helicella itala) [RN] |
Description: The western heath snail's (Helicella itala) shell is yellowish in colour, with pale brown bands, that are not as sharp as in the former species. The spire is flatly conical, the aperture oblique and laterally oval. On the side and on the bottom the apertural rim is broadened. The shell's umbilicus is perspective and widens to one third of the shell's diameter. It is wider than in the former species.
Size: W: 9 - 25 mm; H: 5 - 12 mm; N: 5½ - 6½.
Habitat and Distribution: Contrary to the eastern heath snail, the western species needs more humidity. Its area of distribution covers most of western Europe, in the North it extends until southern Scandinavia, in the East until central Germany and western Lower Austria.
Differences: The maritime garden snail is more distinctly bulbous in shape than the common domestic heath snail species. Helicella itala may however be confounded with Cernuella neglecta, also present in Germany. But Helicella itala has got a wider umbilicus, a flatter surface and a less rounded aperture.
Among other snail species, heath snail species, such as Helicella itala, may serve as an intermediate host to Dicrocoelium lanceolatum, the lesser liver fluke.
 Maritime garden snail (Cernuella virgata). |
 [RN] |
Description: The maritime garden snail is more globular than the previously described species. The shell spire is high and slightly curved, its surface irregularly ribbed. The shell mouth is circular, the umbilicus narrow, often covered by the apertural lip. Colour and form of the snail are very variable. The shell may be whitish or reddish yellow, usually with dark brown bands, that may be discontinuous or dissolved into spots.
Size: W: 8 - 25 mm; H: 6 - 19 mm; N: 5 - 7.
Habitat and Distribution: The maritime garden snail's habitat are dry biotopes, such as dune areas near the coast. The distribution area covers the Mediterranean without the Levantine coasts, also the Atlantic coasts up to the Netherlands, including the British Isles.
However, the specimens displayed come from a place in Breitenlee near Vienna, where they were introduced on a derelict railway area. In Germany the maritime garden snail has also been introduced on industrial fallow land in the Ruhr area.
Gallery: Maritime
garden snail (Cernuella virgata).
 Common hair snail (Trichia hispida), on the right with a bush snail (Fruticicola fruticum). |
 [RN] |
Description: The common hair snail has got a flat shell with a slightly ascending flatly conical spire. The shell surface is finely striped and covered with short and close hairs. The shell mouth is flattened at the bottom and has got a swollen apertural lip. The umbilicus is open and wide.
Size: W: 5 - 12 mm; H: 5 - 6 mm; N: 6 - 7.
Habitat and Distribution: The common hair snail appears in bright forests, on bushes and in cultural habitats, preferably on nettle plants.
The species is distributed over all of Europe except the Southern peninsulas.
Remark: The hairs earning this species' name are also found on juvenile cheese snails (Helicodonta). According to a paper by Markus Pfenninger et al.: "Why snails have hairs" help the snails to keep their footing on wet leaves of their food plants.
Bush snails (Bradybaenidae):
Widely related to leaf snails, the bush snails are placed together with the
latter and the Helicid snails (Helicidae) into one superfamily, the
Helicoidea.