Desmoulin's whorl snail

Desmoulin's whorl snail
Vertigo moulinsiana Holotype MHNT
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Subclass: Heterobranchia
Order: Stylommatophora
Family: Vertiginidae
Genus: Vertigo
Species:
V. moulinsiana
Binomial name
Vertigo moulinsiana
(Dupuy, 1849)[2]
Synonyms
  • Pupa moulinsiana Dupuy, 1849
  • Pupa laevigata Kokeil, in Gallenstein, 1852
  • Pupa charpentieri Shuttleworth, in Küster, 1852
  • Pupa moulinsiana var. personata Moquin-Tandon, 1855
  • Vertigo ventrosa Heynemann, 1862
  • Pupa küsteriana Westerlund, 1875
  • Pupa mulinsania var. octodentata Westerlund, 1878
  • Vertigo limbata Moquin-Tandon, 1855
  • Pupa desmoulinsi Germain, 1913

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.[3]

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

Habitat[edit]

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.[4]

lateral view of the shell of Vertigo moulinsiana

Distribution[edit]

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.[5]

This small snail occurs across Europe as far north as southern Sweden.[6]

Within Western Europe, only the populations in England (Great Britain) and Ireland are considered to be viable,[6] although further populations exist in the Czech Republic (critically endangered, occupying the White Carpathians Biosphere Reserve, Kokořínsko Landscape Protected Area and Southern Moravia),[7][8][9] in Poland (critically endangered)[10] and elsewhere in Europe (for example: Netherlands,[11] France).[12] 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.[13] Its conservation status in Spain is endangered and it occurs in two localities only: near Estañá lake and near Lake of Banyoles.[14]

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),[15][16] Russia, Georgia and Azerbaijan.[17] Its distribution also include Algeria and Morocco,[17] but it is possibly extinct in Algeria.[1]

This species is mentioned in Annex II of the European Union's Habitats Directive.[18]

Status in the United Kingdom[edit]

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[6] 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,[19][20] but the same report states "Desmoulin's whorl snail is now considered less scarce than it was 10 years ago".

Shell description[edit]

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.[21]

The shell of this species reaches about 3 mm in length. The shell is yellowish or brownish and translucent.[22]

Photo of the shell.
Drawing of the shell.

On a stamp[edit]

2002 postal stamp of Germany showing Vertigo moulinsiana

Deutsche Post featured V. moulinsiana on a 2002 German €0.51 postage stamp as part of a series on endangered species of animals.[23]

References[edit]

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

  1. ^ a b Killeen I., Moorkens E. & Seddon M. (2012). "Vertigo moulinsiana". In: IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 1 November 2012.
  2. ^ Dupuy D. (1849). Catalogus extramarinorum Galliae testaceorum brevioribus specierum nondum descriptorum diagnosibus. pp. 1–4, p. 4, No. 248, Paris.
  3. ^ 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
  4. ^ "Action plan for Vertigo moulinsiana". Joint Nature Conservation Committee. 2001–2007. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 19 June 2007.
  5. ^ (in Slovak) Lisický M. J. (1991). Mollusca Slovenska [The Slovak molluscs]. VEDA vydavateľstvo Slovenskej akadémie vied, Bratislava, 344 pp.
  6. ^ a b c "SAC selection species account: Desmoulin's whorl snail".
  7. ^ "Evropsky významné lokality v České republice" (in Czech). 2003. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 28 March 2007.
  8. ^ "Red List of the molluscs (Mollusca) of the Czech Republic". 14 July 2006.
  9. ^ Beran L. (2006). "New records of Vertigo moulinsiana (Gastropoda: Vertiginidae) and notes on its distribution and habitats in the Czech Republic" (PDF). Malacologica Bohemoslovaca. 5: 14–17. doi:10.5817/MaB2006-5-14.
  10. ^ Pokryszko B. M. "Vertigo moulinsiana (Dupuy, 1849)". Instytut Ochrony Przyrody Polskiej Akademii Nauk.
  11. ^ "Vertigo moulinsiana" (in Dutch). Stichting Anemoon. 2005.
  12. ^ "Recherche de sites par espèce : Invertébrés : Vertigo moulinsiana (Vertigo moulinsiana)" (in French). Ministère de l’écologie et du développement durable. 2007. Archived from the original on 21 September 2007. Retrieved 14 May 2007.
  13. ^ (in Czech) 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.
  14. ^ 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.
  15. ^ Balashov I. & Gural-Sverlova N. 2012. An annotated checklist of the terrestrial molluscs of Ukraine. Journal of Conchology. 41 (1): 91–109.
  16. ^ 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.
  17. ^ a b Steffek J. (1996). "Vertigo moulinsiana". 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN. Retrieved 9 April 2007.
  18. ^ "Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora". Official Journal of the European Union. L 206. European Union: 0007–0050. 22 July 1992.
  19. ^ "Concern for Newbury bypass snail". BBC News. 27 July 2006.
  20. ^ Weaver M. (27 July 2006). "End of the road for protected snail". The Guardian.
  21. ^ a b Pilsbry H. A. & Cooke C. M. (1918–1920). Manual of Conchology. Second series: Pulmonata. Volume 25. Pupillidae (Gastrocoptinae, Vertigininae). Philadelphia. page 178.
  22. ^ "Vertigo moulinsiana". ARKive. Archived from the original on 22 June 2006. Retrieved 19 June 2007.
  23. ^ Bartl A. "Bauchige Windelschnecke" (in German). Archived from the original on 7 September 2012. Retrieved 14 May 2007.
  • Dupuy D. (1849). Catalogus extramarinorum Galliae Testaceorum in opere cui titulus Histoire naturelle des Mollusques terrestres et d'eau douce qui vivent en France descriptorum. 4 pp.
  • Sysoev, A. V. & Schileyko, A. A. (2009). Land snails and slugs of Russia and adjacent countries. Sofia/Moskva (Pensoft). 312 pp., 142 plates.

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Vertigo moulinsiana.
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