Gyraulus albus

Gyraulus albus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Superorder: Hygrophila
Family: Planorbidae
Genus: Gyraulus
Species:
G. albus
Binomial name
Gyraulus albus
Synonyms

Planorbis albus Müller, 1774
Planorbis hispidus Draparnaud, 1805

Gyraulus albus, common name white ramshorn, is a small species of freshwater snail, an aquatic pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Planorbidae, the ram's horn snails.

Gyraulus albus is the type species of the genus Gyraulus.

Distribution

Palearctic:

Habitat

This small snail lives in various types of freshwater habitats among weed and on bottom mud. It doesn't require a high level of calcium.

Description

The shell of this species is rather small, reaching a height of 1.3 - 1.8 mm and a width of 4 – 7 mm. This shell has a discoid shape with 4 - 4½ body whorls that expand in the direction of the aperture. This aperture and the whorls are curved and do not have a keel.

The shell of this species is white (sometimes darkened by mud deposits) and has a characteristic spiral sculpture.

References

  1. ^ Müller O. F. (1774). Vermivm terrestrium et fluviatilium, seu animalium infusoriorum, helminthicorum, et testaceorum, non marinorum, succincta historia. Volumen alterum. pp. I-XXXVI, 1-214, Havniae & Lipsiae. page 164
  2. ^ a b (in Czech) Horsák M., Juřičková L., Beran L., Čejka T. & Dvořák L. (2010). "Komentovaný seznam měkkýšů zjištěných ve volné přírodě České a Slovenské republiky. [Annotated list of mollusc species recorded outdoors in the Czech and Slovak Republics]". Malacologica Bohemoslovaca, Suppl. 1: 1-37. PDF.
  3. ^ (in Dutch) Gittenberger E., Janssen A. W., Kuijper W. J., Kuiper J. G. J., Meijer T., van der Velde G. & de Vries J. N. (2004). Nederlandse zoetwatermollusken. Nederlandse Fauna 2. KNNV uitgeverij . 288 pp., ISBN 978-90-5011-201-7. 152-153 Archived 2007-10-23 at the Wayback Machine.

Further reading

  • V. Pfleger & June Chatfield, A guide to the snails of Britain and Europe; Hamlyn Publishing Group, London, 1988; ISBN 0-600-55127-X