Slender amber snail

Slender amber snail
Slender amber snail ( Oxyloma elegans )
Systematics
Order : Lung snails (pulmonata) Subordination : Stylommatophora Superfamily : Land snails (Succineoidea) Family : Amber snails (Succineidae) Genre : Oxyloma Type : Slender amber snail
Scientific name
Oxyloma elegans
( Risso , 1826)

The slender amber snail ( Oxyloma elegans ) is a species of the amber snail family (Succineidae) from the suborder of the land snail (Stylommatophora). The German board of trustees "Mollusc of the Year" and the Austrian Nature Conservation Union have named this snail Mollusk of the Year 2012.

features

In the adult stage, the housing measures 9 to 17 mm (up to 20 mm) in height and 6 to 8 mm in width (or thickness). Housing size and height-width index are somewhat variable. It usually has three turns. The last turn is greatly enlarged and takes up about two thirds of the case height. The turns are only slightly curved at the periphery, the seam is shallow and the outer line is therefore relatively flat. The surface shows coarse, irregular growth strips. The case is translucent, shiny amber in color. The mouth is elongated-ovoid, tapering at an angle at the top. The mouth rim not thickened or modified (without a turn-up or lip). The soft body is light with dark pigment spots on the top of the body; but these can also be missing. Depending on the habitat there are also almost black animals.

Similar species

The outer line of the slender amber snail is flatter than that of the common amber snail ; the housing thus has a slimmer habit. The latter is usually a bit larger. A reliable differentiation is only possible through an anatomical examination.

Geographical distribution, habitat and way of life

The slender amber snail is distributed from North Africa through almost all of Europe, the Middle East to North Asia.

The species needs a lot of moisture and therefore lives mostly near standing water, often on plants that are in the water. If an individual falls into the water, which is inevitable in the species' preferred habitat, it can survive in the water for hours or days. However, it always tries to reach the surface of the water as quickly as possible. It eats withered and rotting parts of plants, preferably from the frog spoon ( Alisma plantago-aquatica ).

Reproduction

The slender amber snail, like all land snails, is a hermaphrodite. After copulation in spring and summer, the animals lay spawn balls with up to 150 eggs several times. In younger or less well fed animals, it can be as little as 15 to 20 eggs. The eggs are laid on plants above the water level, usually on the main food plant, the frog spoon, or directly on the damp mud. They are transparent and round, the diameter ranges from 0.6 to about 1.1 mm. Although the development is temperature-dependent, it is very fast compared to other types of amber snails. The first young animals leave the egg shell after just eight days, and the last individuals hatch after about 16 days. The young are almost transparent and their housing is approximately as high as it is wide (0.4 to 0.6 mm). The animals are max. two years old.

Parasites and enemies

The slender amber snail, like the common amber snail, is relatively often attacked by "antennae maggots", trematode flukes ( Leucochloridium paradoxum ). The main enemies of the slender amber snail are predatory gloss snails such as the cellar gloss snail ( Oxychilus cellarius ) and the garlic gloss snail ( Oxychilus alliaria ), but also ants.

Taxonomy

The species was first validly described by Joseph Antoine Risso as Succinea elegans . The Fauna Europaea lists a total of 23 synonyms for the species.

Danger

The species is not endangered in Germany.

supporting documents

literature

• Rosina Fechter and Gerhard Falkner: molluscs. 287 pp., Mosaik-Verlag, Munich 1990 (Steinbach's Nature Guide 10) ISBN 3-570-03414-3
• 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
• Ewald Frömming: Biology of the Central European Landgastropods. 404 S., Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1954 (in the following, Frömming, Landgastropoden with corresponding page number).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Wiese, Vollrath 2014: The land snails in Germany. 352 pp., Quelle & Meyer, Wiebelsheim ISBN 978-3-494-01551-4 (p. 40)
2. ↑ Joseph Heller: Land Snails of the Land of Israel. 360 pp., Pensof, Sofia & Moscow, 2009 ISBN 978-954-642-510-2
3. ^ Fromming, Landgastropoden, p. 22
4. ↑ Fauna Europaea

Web links

• Molluscs of Central Europe
• AnimalBase