• Source: Trochulus hispidus

Trochulus hispidus, previously known as Trichia hispida, common name, the "hairy snail", is a species of air-breathing land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Hygromiidae, the hairy snails and their allies.




Distribution


This species occurs in a number of European countries and islands including:
Western Europe:

The British Isles: Great Britain and Ireland
Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg
Faroe Islands
France
Switzerland, Liechtenstein
Northern Europe:

Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland
Central Europe:

Austria, Germany, Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania
Southern Europe:

Andorra, Spain, Italy, Bulgaria
Eastern Europe:

Moldova
Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania
Ukraine
Russian Federation (Kaliningrad)




Description


The 3-6 x 5-11 mm shell has 5-6 moderately convex whorls which are rounded or very slightly keeled at the periphery. The aperture has a thin white lip inside. The umbilicus is open and usually wide at 1/8-1/4 of shell diameter. In colour the shell is brown to cream, sometimes with a light band at the periphery. The periostracum is irregularly striated, and densely covered with short (0.2-0.3 mm), curved hairs. These hairs usually remain in the umbilicus if worn away from the rest of the shell. Lost hairs leave pronounced scars.
The animal is brownish grey with a darker anterior part.




Anatomy


This species of snail creates and uses love darts before mating. The love dart of this species is thorn-shaped.
Shepeleva (2014) studied eyes of Trochulus hispidus.




Ecology


The size of the egg is 1.5 mm.
A hairy snail was found in the plumage of a great tit (Parus major) wintering in southwestern Poland in 2010. This passerine was the smallest bird species reported to carry a gastropod.




References






Further reading


Dépraz A., Hausser J. & Pfenninger M. (2009). "A species delimitation approach in the Trochulus sericeus/hispidus complex reveals two cryptic species within a sharp contact zone". BMC Evolutionary Biology 2009(9): 171. doi:10.1186/1471-2148-9-171
Kruckenhauser L., Duda M., Bartel D., Sattmann H., Harl J., Kirchner S. & Haring E. (2014). "Paraphyly and budding speciation in the hairy snail (Pulmonata, Hygromiidae)". Zoologica Scripta, 43(3): 273-288. doi:10.1111/zsc.12046.
Proćków M. & Kuźnik-Kowalska E. (2016). "Major fitness components in life history of euryoecious land snail Trochulus hispidus (Linnaeus, 1758)(Gastropoda: Hygromiidae)". Folia Malacologica 24: 179-184. doi:10.12657/folmal.024.015. PDF




External links



Trochulus hispidus as Trichia hispida images at Encyclopedia of Life

Kata Kunci Pencarian:

• Trochulus hispidus
• Trochulus
• Stylommatophora
• Noricella oreinos
• Gastropoda
• Spire (mollusc)
• Love dart
• List of non-marine molluscs of Sweden
• List of non-marine molluscs of Romania
• Hygromiidae