This is a very common introduced snail in gardens in southern BC, with a few occurrences in northcentral BC. It feeds on plant matter as well as fungi. In Europe, this species takes three years to reach maturity. The colour and banding patterns of this species are highly variable.
Species Information
Diagnosis
Distinguished from other BC snails of similar size by the combination of its rather brightly pigmented, frequently banded shell, having a purplish brown apertural lip and no umbilicus.
Shell
Medium-sized (maximum mature shell width, 20–25 mm); growth determinate; globose-heliciform; opaque.
Whorls: ca 4½–5¼; regularly increasing in width but sometimes final portion of the last whorl a bit more rapidly expanded; spire whorls convex. Spire: low conic-domed; apex bluntly rounded. Suture: moderately impressed. Last whorl: descending at the aperture; constriction of whorl behind the palatal lip very slight; no apparent crest. Periphery: rounded, medial on the last whorl. Protoconch: smooth. Teleoconch sculpture: irregular, low, rounded wrinkle-like colabral riblets; and sparse, shallow malleation. Periostracum: varnish-like. Umbilicus: sealed by the baso-columellar lip. Aperture: rounded, height about equal to width. Peristome: incomplete. Apertural dentition: none. Palatal and baso-columellar lip: rather thick, straightened (in apertural view); appressed to the body whorl, not projecting. Peristome, viewed from side: prosocline, slightly arched. Parietal callus: glazed, transparent, inconspicuous or purplish brown. Colour (including periostracum): straw yellow, orange or brown, with 1–5 dark black-brown or chestnut brown spiral bands that may be fused together or entirely absent; frequently with darker colabral streaks at irregular intervals; shining; aperture showing bands within; lip generally purple-brown or sometimes paler, pinkish.
Habitat
In gardens, parks, and vacant lots, along roadsides, and venturing into adjacent wooded areas.
Distribution
Global Distribution
Native to Western and Central Europe. Widely introduced to North America. In Canada, in BC, Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland.
BC Distribution
Common in Metro Vancouver, the Fraser Valley, eastern and southern Vancouver Island, the Gulf Islands; in the Okanagan and Southern Interior. Scattered occurrences in northcentral BC, including at Quesnel, Smithers and Terrace.
Notes
Etymology
Genus name derived from the Greek "cepaios", meaning "of a garden"; the gender is feminine. The species epithet is Latin, and means "belonging to a grove or woodland".
Recommended citation: Author, Date. Page title. In Klinkenberg, Brian. (Editor) 2021. E-Fauna BC:
Electronic Atlas of the Fauna of British Columbia [efauna.bc.ca]. Lab
for Advanced Spatial Analysis, Department of Geography, University of British
Columbia, Vancouver. [Accessed:
2024-10-06 2:58:59 AM]
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