Forked shrub snail

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Forked shrub snail
Nabeled shrub snail (Fruticicola fruticum (OF Müller, 1774))

Nabeled shrub snail ( Fruticicola fruticum (OF Müller, 1774))

Systematics
Order : Lung snails (pulmonata)
Subordination : Land snails (Stylommatophora)
Superfamily : Helicoidea
Family : Shrub snails (Bradybaenidae)
Genre : Fruticicola
Type : Forked shrub snail
Scientific name
Fruticicola fruticum
OV Müller , 1774

The bifurcated shrub snail ( Fruticicola fruticum ) is a species of snail from the family of shrub snails (Bradybaenidae); this family belongs to the subordination of land snails (Stylommatophora). It is the only European species of the large family of shrub snails.

features

The housing is large and spherical, but the adult size is very variable (13 to 25 mm). The 5 to 6.5 turns increase regularly and are convex; the seam is therefore relatively deep. The mouth is rounded to elliptical. The edge of the mouth is designed as a weak lip, which is slightly turned over at the base. The navel is deep and open. It is moderately wide and takes up about 1/7 of the width of the case. The surface is relatively rough, and z. T. somewhat irregular growth stripes that are crossed by wavy spiral stripes. The color of the housing varies from gray-white, green-yellowish to red-brown, occasionally even black-blue. A brown spiral band can also occur. The coat is gray-white to yellowish and can be spotted.

Reproduction

The animals are sexually mature and copulate after 13 to 14 months. The adult size of the housing is only reached after 15 to 22 months. But they do not lay eggs until the third year. The eggs are laid in May and June. In the following year, the (second) laying period begins at the end of March and, like the following laying periods (up to four in total), lasts about three to four months. During this time, the animals lay between 10 and over 70 eggs several times in a small cave in the ground. The white eggs are spherical and hard-shelled with a diameter of 2.5 to 3 mm. The development is temperature-dependent and takes about 26 to 50 days, depending on the temperature. The animals hatch with an enclosure size of 2 to 2.5 mm and 1.5 whorls. In captivity, they live to be around 6½ years old, an age that may not be reached or only very rarely in the wild.

Occurrence, way of life and distribution

The barbed shrub snail lives in alluvial forests, light forests, hedges, bushes, and also fields that are usually moist. Occasionally, somewhat drier locations are also settled. In the Alps it occurs up to an altitude of 1700 m.

The following have been proven as food plants: the nettle ( Urtica spp.), Hops ( Humulus spp.) And other herbaceous plants. But also detritus is mainly eaten from September onwards; in summer, however, leaf damage predominates. Regionally different, the species retreats to hibernation under leaves or loose soil in October or November, depending on the temperature. The housing is tightly closed by a chalky membrane. However, they wake up during warm spells and can occasionally be found in winter. Even when the weather is dry in summer, the animals withdraw into the housing and seal it with the lime membrane. The calcium membrane is only reabsorbed when the air humidity is higher.

The bifurcated shrub snail is widespread in Central and Eastern Europe. It is absent in the British Isles, western France, Scandinavia and southern Europe. In the east, the distribution area extends into West Asia.

Systematics

The species was first described by Otto Friedrich Müller in 1774 as Helix fruticum and is the type species of the genus Fruticicola Held, 1838. It was previously also assigned to the genera Bradybaena Beck, 1837 and Eulota Hartmann, 1843.

literature

  • Rosina Fechter and Gerhard Falkner: molluscs . (Steinbach Naturführer 10), 287 p.,
  • Ewald Frömming: Biology of the Central European Landgastropods. 404 p., Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1954.
  • Jürgen H. Jungbluth and Dietrich von Knore: Trivial names of land and freshwater mollusks in Germany (Gastropoda et Bivalvia). Mollusca, 26 (1): 105-156, Dresden 2008 ISSN  1864-5127 PDF
  • Michael P. Kerney, RAD Cameron & Jürgen H. Jungbluth: The land snails of Northern and Central Europe. 384 pp., Paul Parey, Hamburg & Berlin 1983 ISBN 3-490-17918-8

Web links

Commons : Barbed shrub snail ( Fruticicola fruticum )  - Collection of images, videos and audio files