Desmoulin's whorl snail explained

Desmoulin's whorl snail (Vertigo moulinsiana) is a species of minute air-breathing land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusc or micromollusc in the family Vertiginidae, the whorl snails.[1]

This species was named in honor of the early-19th-century French naturalist Charles des Moulins.

Habitat

Desmoulin's whorl snail inhabits calcareous wetlands, where there are tall sedges, saw-sedge (Cladium mariscus), reed-grass (Glyceria maxima) or the reed Phragmites australis.[2]

Distribution

The distribution of this species is Atlantic (the part of the Palearctic area which is under the direct climatic influence of the Atlantic Ocean), and southern-European.[3]

This small snail occurs across Europe as far north as southern Sweden.[4]

Within Western Europe, only the populations in England (Great Britain) and Ireland are considered to be viable,[4] although further populations exist in the Czech Republic (critically endangered, occupying the White Carpathians Biosphere Reserve, Kokořínsko Landscape Protected Area and Southern Moravia),[5] [6] [7] in Poland (critically endangered)[8] and elsewhere in Europe (for example: Netherlands,[9] France).[10] Its conservation status in the Czech Republic in 2004–2006 was described as favourable (FV) in the report for the European Commission in accordance with the Habitats Directive.[11] Its conservation status in Spain is endangered and it occurs in two localities only: near Estañá lake and near Lake of Banyoles.[12]

It is also found in Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Belarus, Ukraine (Volhynia, critically endangered; around 2014 extinct in Crimea),[13] [14] Russia, Georgia and Azerbaijan.[15] Its distribution also include Algeria and Morocco,[15] but it is possibly extinct in Algeria.

This species is mentioned in Annex II of the European Union's Habitats Directive.[16]

Status in the United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, Desmoulin's whorl snail is listed as endangered, although it occurs in a number of areas in a band from Norfolk to Dorset, with outlying populations in Kent and the Llŷn Peninsula in North Wales[4] and has probably been under-reported in the past because of its minute size. Its presence on the site of the planned Newbury bypass caused the building of that road to be postponed; the building works were able to go ahead once the snails had been moved to a new habitat nearby. It is reported to have since died out at the new site,[17] [18] but the same report states "Desmoulin's whorl snail is now considered less scarce than it was 10 years ago".

Shell description

The shell is dextral, minute, ovate, ventricose, obtuse at the apex, smoothish, subperforate. The aperture is semiovate, four-toothed, with one tooth on the parietal wall, another on the columella, and two palatals, the lower one longer. The shell has four whorls, parted by a distinct suture, the last doubly larger than all the others together. It is rather solid, glossy, subpellucid and of a uniform fulvous color.

The shell of this species reaches about 3 mm in length. The shell is yellowish or brownish and translucent.[19]

On a stamp

Deutsche Post featured V. moulinsiana on a 2002 German €0.51 postage stamp as part of a series on endangered species of animals.[20]

References

This article incorporates public domain text from reference.[21]

External links

Notes and References

  1. MolluscaBase eds. (2023). MolluscaBase. Vertigo moulinsiana (Dupuy, 1849). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=1050670 on 2023-02-10
  2. Web site: 2001–2007. Action plan for Vertigo moulinsiana. Joint Nature Conservation Committee. 19 June 2007. https://web.archive.org/web/20070927173549/http://www.ukbap.org.uk/UKPlans.aspx?ID=629. 27 September 2007. dead.
  3. Lisický M. J. (1991). Mollusca Slovenska [The Slovak molluscs]. VEDA vydavateľstvo Slovenskej akadémie vied, Bratislava, 344 pp.
  4. Web site: SAC selection species account: Desmoulin's whorl snail.
  5. Web site: Evropsky významné lokality v České republice . 2003 . cs . 28 March 2007 . https://web.archive.org/web/20070927143421/http://stanoviste.natura2000.cz/index.php?page=zivocich_detail&ZivocichID=132 . 27 September 2007 . dead.
  6. Web site: Red List of the molluscs (Mollusca) of the Czech Republic . 14 July 2006.
  7. Beran L. . 2006 . New records of Vertigo moulinsiana (Gastropoda: Vertiginidae) and notes on its distribution and habitats in the Czech Republic . . 5 . 14–17. 10.5817/MaB2006-5-14 .
  8. Web site: Vertigo moulinsiana (Dupuy, 1849) . Pokryszko B. M. . Instytut Ochrony Przyrody Polskiej Akademii Nauk.
  9. Web site: Vertigo moulinsiana . 2005 . Stichting Anemoon. nl.
  10. Web site: Recherche de sites par espèce : Invertébrés : Vertigo moulinsiana (Vertigo moulinsiana) . 2007 . . fr . 14 May 2007 . https://web.archive.org/web/20070921143432/http://natura2000.environnement.gouv.fr/especes/1016.html . 21 September 2007 . dead.
  11. Dušek J., Hošek M. & Kolářová J. (2007). "Hodnotící zpráva o stavu z hlediska ochrany evropsky významných druhů a typů přírodních stanovišť v České republice za rok 2004–2006". Ochrana přírody 62(5): appendix 5:I-IV.
  12. Ramos M. A. (1998). "Implementing the habitats directive for mollusc species in Spain". Journal of Conchology, Molluscan Conservation: A Strategy for the 21st Century, Special Publication 2: 125–132.
  13. Balashov I. & Gural-Sverlova N. 2012. An annotated checklist of the terrestrial molluscs of Ukraine. Journal of Conchology. 41 (1): 91–109.
  14. Balashov I., Yarotskaya M., Filatova J., Starichenko I., Kovalov V. 2017. Terrestrial molluscs of the Tsyr-Pripyat area in Volyn (Northern Ukraine): the first findings of the threatened snail Vertigo moulinsiana in mainland Ukraine. Vestnik Zoologii. 51 (3): 251–258.
  15. Book: Steffek J. . 1996 . Vertigo moulinsiana . 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 9 April 2007 . IUCN.
  16. Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora . . . L 206 . 22 July 1992 . 0007–0050.
  17. News: Concern for Newbury bypass snail. 27 July 2006. BBC News.
  18. News: Weaver M.. End of the road for protected snail . . 27 July 2006.
  19. Web site: Vertigo moulinsiana. ARKive. 19 June 2007. https://web.archive.org/web/20060622195458/http://www.arkive.org/species/ARK/invertebrates_terrestrial_and_freshwater/Vertigo_moulinsiana/more_info.html. 22 June 2006. dead.
  20. Web site: Bauchige Windelschnecke. https://archive.today/20120907123641/http://www.briefmarken-archiv.de/brd/01/2002/a020602.htm. dead. 7 September 2012. Bartl A.. 14 May 2007. de.
  21. [Henry Augustus Pilsbry|Pilsbry H. A.]

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