Description: A tiny species with glossy cylindrical shell and an operculum living in deep, stable leaf litter, moss or soil in wooded habitats on base-rich soils. 2.2-2.8 mm.

World Distribution: Distribution centred upon the British Isles but known also from Belgium, north-west Germany and France south to the Basses Pyrénées. Commonest in the west, including Ireland. Distribution type: Oceanic Temperate (71).

Irish Distribution: Widespread, sometimes common, in old woods or scrub in limestone areas eg. central limestone plain. Local and rare elsewhwere.

Key Identification Features:

• Shell cylindrical, of about 6 whorls, with blunt apex and shallow sutures
• Has a minute translucent operculum which closes the aperture but this can be difficult to see
• Surface smooth, glossy, reddish to yellowish-brown, with extremely fine, widely spaced radial striae
• Animal pale with the eyes at the base of the tentacles

Red list status:

• Vulnerable (VU).

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

iNaturalist: Acicula fusca at iNaturalist World Species Observations database.

GBIF data for Acicula fusca | Classification: Gastropoda, Architaenioglossa, Aciculidae, Acicula

Thumbnails for genus Acicula