Description: A handsome chestnut snail with four strong teeth in the aperture. Shell broad, slightly barrel-shaped, of 6-7 whorls. The lip is thickened and reflected outwards and has a conspicuous central indentation. Whorls flattened, not convex. 3.5-3.8 mm.

World Distribution: Confined to extreme western seaboards in Europe from the British Isles to Portugal and into north Africa. Distribution type: Oceanic Southern-temperate (81).

Irish Distribution: Commoner in Ireland than elsewhere in Europe (Kerney, 1999). Widespread and locally common, particularly in the north and west.

Ecology:

• Common in wet, shaded habitats on neutral to base-rich soils
• Usually found attached to twigs or larger branches in leaf litter on the ground - not a species which climbs on trees or walls
• Towards the west coast recorded from more open habitats such as acid coastal heath and rough pasture

Key Identification Features:

• A small barrel-shaped shell with acuminate spire i.e. rapidly narrowing to apex
• Colour a rich red-brown when fresh but often oxidised to a dull whitish - a pure white form occurs locally in eastern counties
• Aperture with a conspicuous central indentation and lip thickened and reflected outwards
• Four strong teeth present - 2 parietal, 1 columellar, 1 palatal - entering the aperture in a complex curved trajectory

Red list status:

• Vulnerable (VU).

Distribution Map from NBN: Leiostyla anglica at National Biodiversity Network mapping facility, data for UK.

iNaturalist: Leiostyla anglica at iNaturalist World Species Observations database.

GBIF data for Leiostyla anglica | Classification: Gastropoda, Stylommatophora, Lauriidae, Leiostyla

Thumbnails for genus Leiostyla