Trochulus hispidus

Trochulus hispidus, previously known as Trichia hispida, common name, the "hairy snail", is a species of air-breathing land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Hygromiidae, the hairy snails and their allies.

Trochulus hispidus
A live individual of Trochulus hispidus (an older adult with most of the hairs worn off of the shell)
Five views of a shell of Trochulus hispidus
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Order:	Stylommatophora
Family:	Hygromiidae
Genus:	Trochulus
Species:	T. hispidus
Binomial name
Trochulus hispidus (Linnaeus, 1758)[2]
Synonyms[3]
Trichia hispida Trochulus sericeus (Draparnaud, 1801)[4] Trichia sericea (Draparnaud, 1801)

Distribution

This species occurs in a number of European countries and islands including:

Western Europe:

• The British Isles: Great Britain and Ireland
• Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg
• Faroe Islands
• France
• Switzerland, Liechtenstein^[1]

Northern Europe:

• Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland^[1]

Central Europe:

• Austria, Germany, Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania^[1]

Southern Europe:

• Andorra, Spain, Italy, Bulgaria^[1]

Eastern Europe:

• Moldova
• Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania
• Ukraine^[5]
• Russian Federation (Kaliningrad)^[1]

Description

The 3-6 x 5-11 mm shell has 5-6 moderately convex whorls which are rounded or very slightly keeled at the periphery. The aperture has a thin white lip inside. The umbilicus is open and usually wide at 1/8-1/4 of shell diameter. In colour the shell is brown to cream, sometimes with a light band at the periphery. The periostracum is irregularly striated, and densely covered with short (0.2-0.3 mm), curved hairs. These hairs usually remain in the umbilicus if worn away from the rest of the shell. Lost hairs leave pronounced scars.^[6]

The animal is brownish grey with a darker anterior part.^[6]

Scanning electron micrograph of the love dart of Trochulus hispidus, Upper image is lateral view - scale bar 500 μm (0.5 mm). Lower image is a cross-section near the base - scale bar 50 μm.

Anatomy

This species of snail creates and uses love darts before mating. The love dart of this species is thorn-shaped.

Shepeleva (2014) studied eyes of Trochulus hispidus.^[7]

Ecology

The size of the egg is 1.5 mm.^[8]

A hairy snail was found in the plumage of a great tit (Parus major) wintering in southwestern Poland in 2010. This passerine was the smallest bird species reported to carry a gastropod.^[9]