''Cochlostoma septemspirale'' is a

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 a

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 ...

with an operculum, a terrestrial

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 ...

mollusk Mollusca is a phylum of protostomic invertebrate animals, whose members are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 76,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized, making it the second-largest animal phylum after Arthropoda. The ...

in the family

Cochlostomatidae Cochlostomatinae are a family of small land snails which have Operculum (gastropod), opercula and gills. These are Terrestrial molluscs, terrestrial gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Cyclophoroidea.Bouchet, P. (2015). Cochlostomatidae Kobelt, ...

Distribution

The distribution of ''Cochlostoma septemspirale'' is southern Europe from the Pyrenees to south

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and the central Balkans. ''Cochlostoma septemspirale'' is the most widely distributed ''Cochlostoma'' species. Cochlostoma septemspirale - Wagner 1897 pl2

Cochlostoma septemspirale - Wagner 1897 pl2

Description

The

shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses Science Biology * Seashell, a hard outer layer of a marine ani ...

is light greyish brown with 3 rows of reddish brown spots. It has 6-8 regular ribs/mm and 7-10 convex whorls. The

aperture In optics, the aperture of an optical system (including a system consisting of a single lens) is the hole or opening that primarily limits light propagated through the system. More specifically, the entrance pupil as the front side image o ...

is inside whitish. There is no significant

sexual dimorphism Sexual dimorphism is the condition where sexes of the same species exhibit different Morphology (biology), morphological characteristics, including characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most dioecy, di ...

on the shell. The width of the shell is 3.2-4.4 mm. The height of the shell is 6.7-10.2 mm. The animal is medium-sized (5-6.5 mm long), greyish with weak brownish hue.

Ecology

''Cochlostoma septemspirale'' lives in forest habitats, rocks, rock rubble, walls and grassy slopes, up to 2100 m. It feeds on disintegrating plant substrate, sometimes also on the algae film growing on limestone. The animal is slow, not very active, and very shy. However the animal will emerge when put onto a cold object. It is active only in wet weather, and the operculum is closed when the soil is dry. This snail climbs trees up to 2 m during very wet weather conditions. It

hibernate Hibernation is a state of minimal activity and metabolic reduction entered by some animal species. Hibernation is a seasonal heterothermy characterized by low body-temperature, slow breathing and heart-rate, and low metabolic rate. It is most ...

s between stones, under leaves and grasses; activity seems to cease when temperatures go below 6-7 °C. Eggs (diameter 1.0-1.1 mm, occasionally down to 0.6 mm) are laid from April to October, mainly during May to June, about 1 cm below the surface. The eggs are covered by the female with faeces and

mucus Mucus (, ) is a slippery aqueous secretion produced by, and covering, mucous membranes. It is typically produced from cells found in mucous glands, although it may also originate from mixed glands, which contain both Serous fluid, serous and muc ...

. They are laid in clutches of up to 10 eggs. Juveniles hatch after 45–60 days, and the full adult shell size is reached after roughly 1 year.

References

This article incorporates public domain text from the reference."Species summary for ''Cochlostoma septemspirale''"

AnimalBase AnimalBase is a project brought to life in 2004 and is maintained by the University of Göttingen, Germany. The goal of the AnimalBase project is to digitize early zoological literature, provide copyright-free open access to zoological works, and p ...

, Last modified 5 March 2009, accessed 24 August 2010. {{DEFAULTSORT:Cochlostoma Septemspirale Diplommatinidae Taxa named by Grigory Razumovsky Gastropods described in 1789