Girdled Snail Hygromia cinctella

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Length:

Colour & Description :

It is about 1 cm across, and varies in colour from a yellowish white through various shades to a dark chocolate brown. It has a sharp keel around the centre of the body whorl, with a light yellowish white band present around the keel.

Possesses a 6-7 x 10–12 mm dextral shell composed of 5-6 whorls with shallow sutures that form a high conical top and a flattened underside. The last whorl is sharply keeled. The keel has a characteristic white edge, which 'girdles' the shell, giving the snail its common name. The aperture is simple without a lip inside. The umbilicus is very narrow and almost covered by the reflected columellar margin. The shell colour is variable, from whitish grey to horny brown, often with dark spots, slightly translucent, finely and rather regularly striated. The animal is light greyish or with a yellowish hue, often with darker greyish or brownish head and tentacles.

Habitat and Distribution Gardens and waste ground.

 By AfricaGomez (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons