Cepaea nemoralis is an air-breathing land snail (Phylum Mollusca, Class Gastropoda) of the Family Helicidae (Neubauer & Gofas 2017).
Description:
The most distinctive feature of the snail is the globular-shaped shell which is wider than long, generally ranging from 18-25 mm in width and ~12-22 mm in height (Welter Schultes 2014). The lip of the opening is dark brown, thickened and slightly out-turned. Interestingly, grove snails exhibit high polymorphism in their shell colour and banding. Shell colour could be yellow, brown, red, or even whitish, and the shell may have up to 5 dark brown/black bands or no bands at all (Evolution Megalab n.d.).
The soft body of C. nemoralis consists of a well-developed head, a visceral mass and a muscular foot. The head and the foot extend out from a coiled protective shell when the animal is exploring the environment. C. nemoralis detects conditions in its environment using sensory organs located on its head. It has two pairs of tentacles, with the upper pair containing the eyes at the tips. The lower pair is used to sense odors or feel the environment. The eyes are simple camera-type and are likely to detect average light intensity or quality over large angles, but are not able to resolve fine details of images (Zieger & Meyer-Rochow 2008). The large muscular foot uses wave-like contractions to move the animal along the substratum. Mucous produced by a gland coats the bottom of the foot and eases movement across rough surfaces.
Ecology:
C. nemoralis is native to temperate terrestrial habitats of northern, western and central Europe and has been introduced to North America (Forsyth 2004). It is found in a wide variety of vegetated habitats (e.g. grassy areas, gardens; Hammoud 2011; Welter Schultes 2014). It feeds mainly on decaying plants but can also eat living plants, fungi and insects by using thousands of tiny teeth located on a ribbon-like tongue called a radula. Predators of C. nemoralis include birds, shrews, mice, rats, hedgehogs and some beetles. The song thrush is a well-known predator that smashes the shell against rocks or stony surfaces and leaves shell fragments lying around (Hammoud 2011).
Life History:
C. nemoralis is hermaphroditic but needs to mate and cross-fertilize (Hammoud 2011). It generally hibernates in winter, mates around May, and lays eggs in summer (Evolution Megalab n.d.). Eggs are laid in the soil (Hammoud 2011) and hatch into juveniles after 15 to 20 days. Sexual maturity of juveniles may be achieved after 3 years (Evolution Magalab n.d.; White-McLean 2011) and longevity is ~5-6 years (Hammoud 2011; White-McLean 2011).
References Cited:
Evolution Megalab. n.d. Snail FAQ. [accessed 2016 Oct 24]. http://www.evolutionmegalab.org/en_GB/help/viewSnailHelp.
Forsyth RG. 2004. Land snails of British Columbia Handbook. Royal BC Museum, Victoria. In: Klinkenberg B, editor. 2017. E-Fauna BC: Electronic atlas of the fauna of British Columbia. Lab for Advanced Spatial Analysis, Department of Geography, University of British Columbia, Vancouver. [Accessed 2016 Dec 15]. http://ibis.geog.ubc.ca/biodiversity/efauna/LandSnails.html.
Hammoud S. 2011. Cepaea nemoralis. Animal Diversity Web. [accessed 2016 Oct 20]. http://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Cepaea_nemoralis/.
Neubauer TA, Gofas S. 2017. Cepaea nemoralis (Linnaeus, 1758). In: MolluscaBase (2017).
World Register of Marine Species. [accessed 2018 Jan 4]. http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=235792.
Welter Schultes F. 2014. Species summary for Cepaea nemoralis. [accessed 2016 Oct 24].
http://www.animalbase.uni-goettingen.de/zooweb/servlet/AnimalBase/home/species?id=1370.
White-McLean JA. 2011. Terrestrial mollusc tool. USDA/APHIS/PPQ Center for Plant Health Science and Technology and the University of Florida. [accessed 2016 Oct 20]. http://idtools.org/id/mollusc.
Zieger MV, Meyer-Rochow VB. 2008. Understanding the cephalic eyes of pulmonate gastropods: A
review. American Malacological Bulletin. 26:47-66.
To Learn More:
Abdel-Rehim AH. 1983. The effects of temperature and humidity on the nocturnal activity of different shell colour morphs of the land snail Arianta arbustorum. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. 20:385-395.
Cameron RAD. 1970a. The effect of temperature on the activity of three species of Helicid snail (Mollusca: Gastropoda). Journal of Zoology. 162: 303-315.
Cameron RAD. 1970b. The survival, weight-loss and behavior of three species of land snail in conditions of low humidity. Journal of Zoology. 160: 143-157.
Chang H-W. 1991. Activity and weight loss in relation to solar radiation in the polymorphic land snail Cepaea nemoralis. Journal of Zoology. 225: 213-225.
Chang HW, Emlen JM. 1993. Seasonal variation of microhabitat distribution of the polymorphic land snail Cepaea nemoralis. Oecologia. 93:501-507.
Chernorizov AM, Shekhter ED, Arakelov GG, Zimachev MM. 1994. The vision of the snail: the spectral sensitivity of the dark-adapted eye. Neuroscience and Behavioural Physiology. 24: 59-62.
Dittbrenner N, Lazzara R, Köhler HR, Mazzia C, Capowiez Y, Triebskorn R. 2009. Heat tolerance in Mediterranean land snails: histopathology after exposure to different temperature regimes. Journal of Molluscan Studies. 75: 9-18.
Heath DJ. 1975. Colour, sunlight and internal temperatures in the land-snail Cepaea nemoralis (L.) Oecologia. 19: 29-38.
Hettenbergerova E, Horsák M, Chandran R, Hájek M, Zelený D, Dvořáková J. 2013. Patterns of land snail assemblages along a fine-scale moisture gradient. Malacologia. 56: 31-42.
Jaremovic R, Rollo CD. 1979. Tree climbing by the snail Cepaea nemoralis (L.): a possible method for regulating temperature and hydration. Canadian Journal of Zoology. 57(5):1010-1014.
Moreno-Rueda G. 2013. The importance of moisture in the activity patterns of the activity patterns of the arid-dwelling land snail Iberus gualtieranus. Snails: Biology, Ecology and Conservation. 137:149
Ozgo M, Kubea A. 2005. Humidity and the effect of shell colour on activity of Cepaea nemoralis. 13(3):109-114.
Perea J, Garcia A, Gómez G, Acero R, Peña F , Gómez S. 2007. Effect of light and substratum structural complexity on microhabitat selection by the snail Helix aspersa Müller. Journal of Molluscan Studies. 73: 39-43.
Prior DJ. 1985. Water-regulatory behaviour in terrestrial gastropods. Biological Reviews. 60: 403–424.
Schulte P. 2015. The effects of temperature on aerobic metabolism: towards a mechanistic understanding of the responses of ectotherms to a changing environment. Journal of Experimental Biology. 218: 1856-1866.
Forsyth RG. 2004. Land snails of British Columbia Handbook. Royal BC Museum, Victoria. In: Klinkenberg B, editor. 2017. E-Fauna BC: Electronic atlas of the fauna of British Columbia. Lab for Advanced Spatial Analysis, Department of Geography, University of British Columbia, Vancouver. [Accessed 2016 Dec 15]. http://ibis.geog.ubc.ca/biodiversity/efauna/LandSnails.html.
Hammoud S. 2011. Cepaea nemoralis. Animal Diversity Web. [accessed 2016 Oct 20]. http://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Cepaea_nemoralis/.
Neubauer TA, Gofas S. 2017. Cepaea nemoralis (Linnaeus, 1758). In: MolluscaBase (2017).
World Register of Marine Species. [accessed 2018 Jan 4]. http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=235792.
Welter Schultes F. 2014. Species summary for Cepaea nemoralis. [accessed 2016 Oct 24].
http://www.animalbase.uni-goettingen.de/zooweb/servlet/AnimalBase/home/species?id=1370.
White-McLean JA. 2011. Terrestrial mollusc tool. USDA/APHIS/PPQ Center for Plant Health Science and Technology and the University of Florida. [accessed 2016 Oct 20]. http://idtools.org/id/mollusc.
Zieger MV, Meyer-Rochow VB. 2008. Understanding the cephalic eyes of pulmonate gastropods: A
review. American Malacological Bulletin. 26:47-66.
To Learn More:
Abdel-Rehim AH. 1983. The effects of temperature and humidity on the nocturnal activity of different shell colour morphs of the land snail Arianta arbustorum. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. 20:385-395.
Cameron RAD. 1970a. The effect of temperature on the activity of three species of Helicid snail (Mollusca: Gastropoda). Journal of Zoology. 162: 303-315.
Cameron RAD. 1970b. The survival, weight-loss and behavior of three species of land snail in conditions of low humidity. Journal of Zoology. 160: 143-157.
Chang H-W. 1991. Activity and weight loss in relation to solar radiation in the polymorphic land snail Cepaea nemoralis. Journal of Zoology. 225: 213-225.
Chang HW, Emlen JM. 1993. Seasonal variation of microhabitat distribution of the polymorphic land snail Cepaea nemoralis. Oecologia. 93:501-507.
Chernorizov AM, Shekhter ED, Arakelov GG, Zimachev MM. 1994. The vision of the snail: the spectral sensitivity of the dark-adapted eye. Neuroscience and Behavioural Physiology. 24: 59-62.
Dittbrenner N, Lazzara R, Köhler HR, Mazzia C, Capowiez Y, Triebskorn R. 2009. Heat tolerance in Mediterranean land snails: histopathology after exposure to different temperature regimes. Journal of Molluscan Studies. 75: 9-18.
Heath DJ. 1975. Colour, sunlight and internal temperatures in the land-snail Cepaea nemoralis (L.) Oecologia. 19: 29-38.
Hettenbergerova E, Horsák M, Chandran R, Hájek M, Zelený D, Dvořáková J. 2013. Patterns of land snail assemblages along a fine-scale moisture gradient. Malacologia. 56: 31-42.
Jaremovic R, Rollo CD. 1979. Tree climbing by the snail Cepaea nemoralis (L.): a possible method for regulating temperature and hydration. Canadian Journal of Zoology. 57(5):1010-1014.
Moreno-Rueda G. 2013. The importance of moisture in the activity patterns of the activity patterns of the arid-dwelling land snail Iberus gualtieranus. Snails: Biology, Ecology and Conservation. 137:149
Ozgo M, Kubea A. 2005. Humidity and the effect of shell colour on activity of Cepaea nemoralis. 13(3):109-114.
Perea J, Garcia A, Gómez G, Acero R, Peña F , Gómez S. 2007. Effect of light and substratum structural complexity on microhabitat selection by the snail Helix aspersa Müller. Journal of Molluscan Studies. 73: 39-43.
Prior DJ. 1985. Water-regulatory behaviour in terrestrial gastropods. Biological Reviews. 60: 403–424.
Schulte P. 2015. The effects of temperature on aerobic metabolism: towards a mechanistic understanding of the responses of ectotherms to a changing environment. Journal of Experimental Biology. 218: 1856-1866.