Description: An awl-shaped, narrow and cylindrical shell of 5½ whorls. Aperture about one-third of total height, narrow. Surface smooth, glassy and transparent becoming whitish/opaque after death. Lives in the soil. Rarely seen. 4.5-5.5 mm.

World Distribution: Originally Mediterranean and probably an introduction in Ireland and western Europe generally. Current distribution type: Mediterranean Atlantic (91).

Irish Distribution: There is a wide scatter of old records in the southern half of Ireland within the area of Carboniferous limestone. Absent from the west and north although there is an isolated old record for Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh (Kerney, 1968). Rarely reported nowadays.

Ecology:

• A soil-dwelling species preferring dry, warm, calcareous sites
• Difficult to detect, at least in the living state, and probably under-recorded
• Usually found under deeply embedded stones on calcareous soil of hedgebanks etc.

Key Identification Features:

• A small, awl-shaped shell of 5½ whorls
• Long and narrow with a narrow aperture and blunt apex
• Shell fragile, glassy and transparent
• Turns whitish, opaque when old
• Animal whitish

Red list status:

• Vulnerable (VU).

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

iNaturalist: Cecilioides acicula at iNaturalist World Species Observations database.

GBIF data for Cecilioides acicula | Classification: Gastropoda, Stylommatophora, Ferussaciidae, Cecilioides

Thumbnails for genus Cecilioides