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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 Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Order: Stylommatophora
Suborder: Achatinina
Superfamily: Achatinoidea
Family: Ferussaciidae
Genus: Cecilioides
Species:
C. acicula
Binomial name
Cecilioides acicula
Synonyms

Caecilianella acicula (Müller)

This is a subterranean species.

Description

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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

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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

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

This species native range is Mediterranean Europe, specifically, 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

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  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. ^ a b 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. [1]
  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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