Loading AI tools
Species of gastropod From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Zonitoides nitidus (sometimes Zonitoides nitida),[2] also known as the shiny glass snail or black gloss, is a species of small, air-breathing land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusc in the family Gastrodontidae.[3]
| Zonitoides nitidus | |
|---|---|
| |
| Two shells of Zonitoides nitidus | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| Order: | Stylommatophora |
| Superfamily: | Gastrodontoidea |
| Family: | Gastrodontidae |
| Genus: | Zonitoides |
| Species: | Z. nitidus |
| Binomial name | |
| Zonitoides nitidus | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
Zonitoides nitidus is the type species of the genus Zonitoides.
The distribution of Zonitoides nitidus includes the Holarctic zone. It is found almost all over Europe except the southernmost regions:[4]
The non-indigenous distribution of this species includes:
The shell is reddish brown.[4] The umbilicus is large (almost 25% of shell diameter).[4] The shell is with radial growth lines.[4] The width of the shell is 6–7 mm.[4] The height of the shell is 3.5–4.0 mm.[4]
The animal is black with a characteristic orange dash: the (mantle gland is visible under the shell's aperture).[4]
Juveniles are whitish grey with light brown translucent shells.[4]
Zonitoides nitidus occurs in wet meadows and river woods, usually near water bodies, swamps and swampy forests, in the zone of emergent vegetation.[4] Man-made habitats such as pools in old quarries are sometimes colonized after a few years.[4] In Switzerland it is found up to 2100m of altitude.[4]
Zonitoides nitidus is herbivorous.[4] These snails feed on disintegrating leaves, mushrooms, roots and fruit.[4] They do not eat dry leaves.[4] Humid leaves are preferred.[4] When consuming soft food such as mushrooms or soft fruits, Zonitoides nitidus penetrates perpendicularly inside, producing characteristic holes; the entire animal including its shell can penetrate inside the fruit.[4] Z. nitidus mainly eat decayed plant, algae, and fungus, and prey upon snails and bivalve species from June to August.[9]
In Germany up to three clutches of 2–9 eggs per individual are laid in all seasons, with some days or weeks spacing between egg-laying.[4] Egg diameter is 1.0–1.6 mm.[4] Eggs are laid loose into the soil.[4] Juveniles have 1.5 whorls (diameter 1–1.2 mm) after hatching.[4] They start feeding on disintegrating plant remains in the soil.[4] After 3 months the shell diameter reaches up to 3 mm under favourable conditions, after 10 months 6 mm, and full size after slightly more than one year.[4] Maximum age is 18 months under laboratory conditions.[4]
Parasites of Zonitoides nitidus include:
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.
