Description: Shell moderately large, flattened both above and below and very sharply keeled at the periphery. On the upper side with 5½ very flattened whorls with shallow sutures. Aperture elliptical and notched at the keel. Umbilicus wide and deep. Surface opaque, dull, mid brown with a pattern of darker radial blotches and with a distinctive granular microsculpture giving a shagreened effect. Regionally extinct 15-20 mm.

World Distribution: Found across western Europe from southern Scandinavia to the western Mediterranean. Distribution type: Suboceanic Southern Temperate (72).

Irish Distribution: Known in Ireland only from limestone bluffs in the gorge of the River Blackwater at Carrick-a-Brick Castle near Fermoy, East Cork (Phillips, 1914). Its status as a native is questionable according to Kerney (1972), who failed to find living material during a visit to the site in 1971. Live specimens have not been found in recent times.

Ecology:

• In Britain the lapidary snail is known mostly from limestone rocks and quarries
• Elsewhere mainly in hedgerows and woods on well-drained, chalky soils
• A declining species also in Britain

Key Identification Features:

• A moderately large, flattened, dull brown-black shell
• Flattened both above and below with a sharply keeled periphery
• Surface dull and with a granular microsculpture making it appear shagreened
• Aperture elliptical and notched where it meets the keel
• Umbilicus wide and deep

Red list status:

• Regionally extinct (RE).

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

iNaturalist: Helicigona lapicida at iNaturalist World Species Observations database.

GBIF data for Helicigona lapicida | Classification: Gastropoda, Stylommatophora, Helicidae, Helicigona

Thumbnails for genus Helicigona