''Helix lucorum,'' known commonly as the Turkish Snail, 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 large, edible, 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

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 ...

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 Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

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 typical snails.

Description

Adult snails weigh about 20–25 g.Danilova A.B. & Grinkevich L. N. (2012). "Failure of Long-Term Memory Formation in Juvenile Snails Is Determined by Acetylation Status of Histone H3 and Can Be Improved by NaB Treatment". '' PLoS ONE'' 7(7): e41828. . The width of the shell is 35–60 mm. The height of the shell is 25–45 mm. This species of snail makes and uses

love dart A love dart (also known as a gypsobelum, shooting darts, or just as darts) is a sharp, calcium carbonate, calcareous or chitinous Dart (missile), dart which some hermaphroditic land snails and slugs create. Love darts are both formed and stor ...

Distribution

The native distribution is the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising parts of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains, i ...

Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

and, arguably, the

Balkans The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...

. It has also invaded many other regions since ancient times, likely assisted by humans.Korábek O., Juřičková L., Balashov I., Petrusek A
The contribution of ancient and modern anthropogenic introductions to the colonization of Europe by the land snail ''Helix lucorum'' Linnaeus, 1758 (Helicidae)
// Contributions to Zoology. — 2018. — 87 (2). — P. 61—74. Eastern native range with main genetic diversity of the species: *

(

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

) *

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

Mumladze L. (2013). "Shell size differences in ''Helix lucorum'' Linnaeus, 1758 (Mollusca: Gastropoda) between natural and urban environments". '' Turkish Journal of Zoology'' 37: 1-6. *

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

* Northern

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

Balkans (probably native): * Albania * Bosnia and Herzegovina *

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 ...

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

* Greece * Macedonia * Serbia * Turkey Other countries: *

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

* Syria * Russia - could be native in Caucasus, invasive in some other regions *

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

- probably invasive *

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 ...

- probably invasive *

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

- probably invasive *

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 ...

- invasive, in

Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...

("''Helix taurica'' Krynicki, 1833") at least since early 19 century, probably much longer, these populations originated from

; other colonies of a different lineage also appear since 2000s in mainland part of Southern Ukraine and in Crimea as wellBalashov I. & Gural-Sverlova N. (2012). "An annotated checklist of the terrestrial molluscs of Ukraine". '' Journal of Conchology'' ''41''(1): 91-109. *

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 ...

- invasive, since 2009, as of 2011 the only locality is

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

- Žižkov Horsák M., Juřičková L., Beran L., Čejka T. & Dvořák L. (2010). "Komentovaný seznam měkkýšů zjištěných ve volné přírodě České a Slovenské republiky. nnotated list of mollusc species recorded outdoors in the Czech and Slovak Republics. '' Malacologica Bohemoslovaca'', Suppl. 1: 1-37
PDF
Peltanová A., Petrusek A., Kment P. & Juřičková L. (2011). "A fast snail's pace: colonization of Central Europe by Mediterranean gastropods". ''Biological Invasions'' 14(4): 759-764. . *

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 ...

- invasive, since 2013, as of 2014 the only locality is in

Bratislava Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

- invasive *

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

- invasive, since 2009, at Wimbledon

Ecology

The diameter of the egg is 4.4 mm.Heller J.: ''Life History Strategies''. in Barker G. M. (ed.):
The biology of terrestrial molluscs
'. CABI Publishing, Oxon, UK, 2001, . 1-146, cited page: 428. Juvenile snails that are two to three months old weigh 0.5–0.9 g.

Human use

Measurement of DNA damage in ''H. lucorum'' collected from environmental sites can be used for evaluating

soil pollution Soil contamination, soil pollution, or land pollution as a part of land degradation is caused by the presence of xenobiotic (human-made) chemicals or other alteration in the natural soil environment. It is typically caused by industrial activit ...

at these sites.Sargsyan A, Hovhannisyan G, Simonyan A, Arakelyan M, Arzumanyan M, Aroutiounian R. Application of land snail Helix lucorum for evaluation of genotoxicity of soil pollution. Mutat Res Genet Toxicol Environ Mutagen. 2022 Jun;878:503500. doi: 10.1016/j.mrgentox.2022.503500. Epub 2022 May 6. PMID 35649673 DNA damage in ''H. lucorum'' haemocytes and digestive gland cells is determined by the comet assay. ''Helix lucorum'' is used in cuisine as escargots.

References

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20120529085410/http://szmn.sbras.ru/picts/Mollusca/Helix_lucorum.htm
TODO SOBRE CARACOLES
{{Taxonbar, from=Q477698 Helix (gastropod) Gastropods described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus