''Caucasotachea vindobonensis'' is a large

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

of air-breathing

land snail A land snail is any of the numerous species of snail that live on land, as opposed to the sea snails and freshwater snails. ''Land snail'' is the common name for terrestrial molluscs, terrestrial gastropod mollusks that have gastropod shell, shel ...

, a

terrestrial Terrestrial refers to things related to land or the planet Earth, as opposed to extraterrestrial. Terrestrial may also refer to: * Terrestrial animal, an animal that lives on land opposed to living in water, or sometimes an animal that lives on o ...

pulmonate Pulmonata or pulmonates is an informal group (previously an order, and before that, a subclass) of snails and slugs characterized by the ability to breathe air, by virtue of having a pallial lung instead of a gill, or gills. The group inclu ...

gastropod Gastropods (), commonly known as slugs and snails, belong to a large Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, freshwater, and fro ...

in the family

Helicidae Helicidae is a large, diverse family of western Palaearctic, medium to large-sized, air-breathing land snails, sometimes called the "typical snails." It includes some of the largest European land snails, several species are common in anthropoge ...

The

scientific name In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

is derived from the Celtic settlement

Vindobona Vindobona (; from Gaulish ''windo-'' "white" and ''bona'' "base/bottom") was a Roman military camp (or ) in the province of Pannonia, located on the site of the modern city of Vienna in Austria. The settlement area took on a new name in the 13 ...

, now known as

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, the capital of Austria. This species was formerly assigned to the genus ''

Cepaea ''Cepaea'' is a genus of large air-breathing land snails, terrestrial molluscs, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs in the family Helicidae. The shells are often brightly coloured and patterned with brown stripes. The two living species in ...

''. However, DNA sequences revealed that this species is not closely related to ''Cepaea'', but belongs instead to the genus ''Caucasotachea''.

Description

The right-hand coiled, globular shell of ''C. vindobonensis'' is 17–21 mm high and 20–25 mm broad with 5.5–6 whorls. In adults, the

umbilicus Umbilicus may refer to: *The navel or belly button *Umbilicus (mollusc), a feature of gastropod, Nautilus and Ammonite shell anatomy *Umbilicus (plant), ''Umbilicus'' (plant), a genus of over ninety species of perennial flowering plants *Umbilicus ...

is completely covered. The

lip The lips are a horizontal pair of soft appendages attached to the jaws and are the most visible part of the mouth of many animals, including humans. Mammal lips are soft, movable and serve to facilitate the ingestion of food (e.g. sucklin ...

is brown at its inner end becoming pale towards the suture; this distinguishes it from the conchological similar ''

Cepaea hortensis The white-lipped snail or garden banded snail, scientific name ''Cepaea hortensis'', is a large species of air-breathing land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusc in the family Helicidae. The only other species in the genus is ''Cepae ...

'' (usually pure white lip) and ''

Cepaea nemoralis The grove snail, brown-lipped snail or lemon snail (''Cepaea nemoralis'') is a species of air-breathing land snail, a terrestrial molluscs, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusc. It is one of the most common large species of land snail in Euro ...

'' (usually a dark brown lip), with which ''C. vindobonensis'' often co-occurs. Another difference is that the shell ''C. vindobonensis'' has fine growth ridges whereas those of ''Cepaea'' are smooth. The shell is whitish or yellowish, with typically 5 brown stripes, of which the upper two are usually weak. The lowermost stripe is nearer to the

columella Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella (, Arabic: ) was a prominent Roman writer on agriculture in the Roman Empire. His in twelve volumes has been completely preserved and forms an important source on Roman agriculture and ancient Roman cuisin ...

than in ''Cepaea''. There is a slight variation of shell colour within this species (see below). The animal itself is yellowish with grey tentacles.

Distribution and habitat

The native distribution of this species is

Pontic Pontic, from the Greek ''pontos'' (, ), or "sea", may refer to: The Black Sea Places * The Pontic colonies, on its northern shores * Pontus (region), a region on its southern shores * The Pontic–Caspian steppe, steppelands stretching from nor ...

, Pannonian and Balkanian. It occurs in Albania,

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

(near threatened (NT)), Germany ( reintroduced), Greece,

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

, Italy, Latvia, Moldova,

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, North Macedonia, Romania,

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

, Russia (Rostov Oblast, Stavropol Krai, Krasnodar Krai; Moscow Region as an introductionEgorov R. (2014). "The first record of ''Cepaea vindobonensis'' (Pfeiffer, 1828) (Stylommatophora: Helicidae) in the central part of European Russia". ''

Malacologica Bohemoslovaca ''Malacologica Bohemoslovaca'' is a peer-reviewed open access scientific journal covering all aspects of malacology. It was published by the Slovak Academy of Sciences since 2005. It is published by the Department of Botany and Zoology, Faculty of ...

'' 13: 110-113
PDF
) Serbia, Slovenia, and

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. Introduced populations in the United States (New York State) have been known since 2015 and in Canada (Quebec) since 2020. The original habitat of ''C. vindobonensis'' was most probably open forests in the Balkans, from where it spread over large parts of Central and Eastern Europe after the last glaciation. Nevertheless, it also dwells in several grassland habitats like meadows, steppe and ruderal areas, especially in the north of its distribution area. The highest vertical occurrence is about 1600 m asl in Southern Bulgaria.

Life cycle

All the following information originates from a Greek study. Because Greece is in the southernmost part of the distribution area, the phenology for this species might be quite different in the more northerly countries where it is found. ''Caucasotachea vindobonensis'' becomes mature after its second year and can reach a maximum life span of about 7 years. The reproductive period lasts from April to June, with a maximum in May. Each year, adults lay about 50 eggs, about 3 mm in diameter, and the juveniles hatch out after 18 days. During hot summer days, these snails rest attached to leaves or the stems of tall plants. Hibernation commences at the end of October to the beginning of November, and the snails come out of hibernation in March.

References

External links

{{Taxonbar, from=Q898580 Helicidae Gastropods described in 1828