Helicigona lapicida is a species of medium-sized, air-breathing land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Helicidae, the typical snails.
Subspecies Helicigona lapicida andorrica (Bourguignat, 1876) Helicigona lapicida lapicida (Linnaeus, 1758)
Anatomy
This species of snail makes and uses love darts during mating.
Distribution This species is native to Europe, especially Central Europe.
Ecology
Helicigona lapicida is known to feed selectively on certain lichens inhabiting rocky substrates, including the crustose lichen species Verrucaria nigrescens.
Shell description
The shell of this species is approximately 20 mm in maximum dimension. The periphery of the shell is sharply keeled. There is a wide umbilicus. The peristome around the aperture is white and strongly reflected and lipped. The shell color is grey-brown with some red brown patches.
References
Janus, Horst, 1965. The young specialist looks at land and freshwater molluscs, Burke, London Kerney, M.P., Cameron, R.A.D. & Jungbluth, J-H. (1983). Die Landschnecken Nord- und Mitteleuropas. Ein Bestimmungsbuch für Biologen und Naturfreunde, 384 pp., 24 plates. [Summer or later]. Hamburg / Berlin (Paul Parey). Bank, R. A.; Neubert, E. (2017). Checklist of the land and freshwater Gastropoda of Europe. Last update: July 16, 2017 Sysoev, A. V. & Schileyko, A. A. (2009). Land snails and slugs of Russia and adjacent countries. Sofia/Moskva (Pensoft). 312 pp., 142 plates.
External links
Linnaeus, C. (1758). Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Editio decima, reformata [10th revised edition], vol. 1: 824 pp. Laurentius Salvius: Holmiae. Helicigona lapicida at Animalbase taxonomy, short description, distribution, biology, status (threats), images Helicigona lapicida images at Encyclopedia of Life Fauna Europaea Search Distribution