Description: A short, turreted, conical shell with large body whorl. The aperture is about 50% of shell height, the spire very short and the whorls are convex with deep sutures. Surface moderately shiny with relatively coarse growth lines. Colour red-brown. In life the dark digestive gland shows through the shell to make the spire very dark compared to the body whorl. Shell fragile. Very local and rare. 5-8 mm.

World Distribution: Confined to western Europe and distributed mainly near coasts from France to south-east Sweden. There are curious outliers inland in the mountains of central Scandinavia and east Switzerland. The range is therefore Suboceanic Boreo-temperate (52).

Irish Distribution: Recorded from several base-rich fens in Co. Offaly (Norris & Pickrell, 1972), from two sites in Co. Clare, from three sites on Inishmore, Aran Islands, Co. Galway (Phillips, 1910; Tattersfield, 1991), from Dooaghtry dunes, Co. Mayo (Stelfox, 1912; Tattersfield, 1993) and most recently from a significant cluster of eight localities on the shores of Lough Corrib (Holyoak, 2005).

Ecology:

• It requires well-grazed or sparsely vegetated dune hollows, or grazed, sparsely vegetated flood plains of larger lakes
• All of its sites are on calcareous coastal sands or on Carboniferous limestone

Key Identification Features:

• A small, turreted, red-brown shell with moderately large body whorl
• The spire is moderately short but distinctive in the living animal as it appears dark because of the dark digestive gland showing through
• Whorls very convex and globular with deep sutures
• Animal dark grey to black

Red list status:

• Endangered (EN).

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

iNaturalist: Quickella arenaria at iNaturalist World Species Observations database.

GBIF data for Quickella arenaria | Classification: Gastropoda, Stylommatophora, Succineidae, Quickella

Thumbnails for genus Quickella