Helix texta
Helix texta (Hebrew: שבלול החרמון) is a species of large, edible, air-breathing land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Helicidae, the typical snails. This species is endemic to Israel. It lives in the high northern part of Israel, typically in the Hermon ridge area.
| Helix texta | |
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| Scientific classification | |
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| (unranked): | clade Heterobranchia clade Euthyneura clade Panpulmonata clade Eupulmonata clade Stylommatophora informal group Sigmurethra |
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| Species: | H. texta |
| Binomial name | |
| Helix texta Mousson, 1861 | |
It is the largest Israeli snail with a shell of diameter 55 mm. It is active during autumn (which is November in Israel), when it eats and mates. When the cold winter comes the snail enter hibernation until the next autumn. This snail lives several years and mates usually only a year after hatching from the egg. The size of the egg is 5.5 mm.[2]
Recent studies determined that Helix texta is a synonym of Helix pachya.
References
- Heller J. 1996. Helix texta. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Archived 27 June 2014 at the Wayback Machine Downloaded on 7 August 2007.
- Heller J.: Life History Strategies. in Barker G. M. (ed.): The biology of terrestrial molluscs. CABI Publishing, Oxon, UK, 2001, ISBN 0-85199-318-4. 1-146, cited page: 428.
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