Cecilioides acicula

Cecilioides acicula, common name the "blind snail" or "blind awlsnail", is a species of very small, air-breathing land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Ferussaciidae.[2]

Cecilioides acicula
Two fresh shells of Cecilioides acicula, the scale bar is in millimeters
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Mollusca
Class:
Gastropoda
(unranked):
clade Heterobranchia clade Euthyneura
clade Panpulmonata
clade Eupulmonata
clade Stylommatophora
informal group Sigmurethra
Superfamily:
Achatinoidea
Family:
Ferussaciidae
Genus:
Cecilioides
Subgenus:
Cecilioides
Species:
C. acicula
Binomial name
Cecilioides acicula
Synonyms

Caecilianella acicula (Müller)

This is a subterranean species.

Description

This animal is white, there are two pairs of tentacles, but eyes are lacking.[3]

The shell is long and narrow, up to a maximum of 5.5 mm and a width of 1.2 mm.[4] The shell is colorless, glassy and transparent when it is fresh, a somewhat opaque milky-white when it is not fresh.

Habitat

The habitat of this species is underground, quite some distance below the surface. It is more common in soils with a high level of calcium.[4]

Because of its subterranean habitat, this species is often found only as an empty shell, in such places as mole hills, ant hills, or in flood debris of rivers.

Distribution

Distribution of this species is central European and southern European.[5]

This species native range is Mediterranean Europe, specifically (Spain, …), Western Europe (Great Britain and Ireland,[6] Netherlands,[7] …) and Central Europe (Czech Republic - least concern (LC),[8] Poland, Slovakia, Ukraine[9] …).

It has also been accidentally introduced to several other countries:

  • Latvia since 2006[10]
  • Bermuda since 1861[11]
  • Canada: Ontario[12]
  • The United States (in Pennsylvania and in Florida,[13] in Maryland since 1959,[14] in Virginia since 2006,[15] in California, in New Jersey and in New Mexicoà[16]
  • New Zealand.[17]
  • Australia.[18]

References
  1. Müller, O. F. 1774. Vermivm terrestrium et fluviatilium, seu animalium infusoriorum, helminthicorum, et testaceorum, non marinorum, succincta historia. Volumen alterum. - pp. I-XXVI [= 1-36], 1-214, [1-10]. Havniæ & Lipsiæ. (Heineck & Faber).
  2. Marshall, B. (2014). "Ceciliodes acicula (O. F. Müller, 1774)". World Register of Marine Species at. Retrieved 6 November 2014.
  3. Adam, W. 1960. Mollusques. Faune de Belgique, Tome 1, mollusques terrestres et dulcicoles. Bruxelles: Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique. 402 pp., 4 pl.
  4. M.P. Kerney and R.A.D. Cameron, 1979, A Field Guide to the Land Snails of Britain and North-west Europe. Collins, London, ISBN 0-00-219676-X
  5. (in Slovak) Lisický M. J. (1991). Mollusca Slovenska. [The Slovak molluscs]. VEDA vydavateľstvo Slovenskej akadémie vied, Bratislava, 344 pp.
  6. Anderson, R. (2005). "An Annotated List of the Non-Marine Mollusca of Britain and Ireland (InvertebrateIreland Online, Ulster Museum, Belfast and National Museum of Ireland , Dublin)". Retrieved 26 August 2008.
  7. "Anemoon > Flora en Fauna > Soorteninformatie". www.anemoon.org. Retrieved 27 August 2008.
  8. Juřičková L., Horsák M. & Beran L., 2001: Check-list of the molluscs (Mollusca) of the Czech Republic. Acta Soc. Zool. Bohem., 65: 25-40.
  9. Balashov I. & Gural-Sverlova N. 2012. An annotated checklist of the terrestrial molluscs of Ukraine. Journal of Conchology. 41 (1): 91-109.
  10. Šteffek J., Stalažs A. & Dreijers E., 2008: Snail fauna of the oldest cemeteries from Riga (Latvia). – Malacologica Bohemoslovaca, 7: 79–80. Online serial at <http://mollusca.sav.sk> 29-September-2008.
  11. Bieler, R. & Slapcinsky, J. 2000. A case study for development of an island fauna: recent terrestrial mollusks of Bermuda. Nemouria No. 44:1-99.
  12. Forsyth, R.G., M.J. Oldham, & F.W. Schueler. 2008. Mollusca, Gastropoda, Ellobiidae, Carychium minimum, and Ferussaciidae, Cecilioides acicula: distribution extension and first provincial records of two introduced land snails in Ontario, Canada. Check List 4(4): 449–452. PDF Archived 23 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine
  13. Pilsbry, H.A. 1946. Land Mollusca of North America (north of Mexico). Volume 2, part 1. Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia.
  14. Grimm, W. 1959. Land snails of Carroll County, Maryland. Nautilus 72:122-127.
  15. Örstan, Aydın (2007). "A new record of Cecilioides acicula from North America (Pulmonata: Ferussaciidae). Triton, March 2007, no 15, page 38".
  16. "Comprehensive Report Species - Cecilioides acicula". www.natureserve.org. 26 August 2008. Archived from the original on 28 September 2008. Retrieved 26 August 2008.
  17. Barker, G.M. 1999. Naturalised terrestrial Stylommatophora (Mollusca: Gastropoda). Fauna of New Zealand. No. 38. Manaaki Whenua Press.
  18. Bonham K (2005) Cecilioides acicula (Muller 1774) (Pulmonata: Ferussaciidae), a burrowing land snail introduced into Tasmania Tasmanian Naturalist 127:42-44
  • Spencer, H.G., Marshall, B.A. & Willan, R.C. (2009). Checklist of New Zealand living Mollusca. pp 196–219 in Gordon, D.P. (ed.) New Zealand inventory of biodiversity. Volume one. Kingdom Animalia: Radiata, Lophotrochozoa, Deuterostomia. Canterbury University Press, Christchurch.

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