Desmoulin's whorl snail  (Vertigo moulinsiana)

Learn about the scientific name of this species and how it fits into the tree of life at Nature Navigator.

Biology

For most of the warmer parts of the year the snail lives on the leaves of tall wetland plants such as sedge and sweet reed-grass. When these die back in winter, the snails probably retreat to the leaf-litter to avoid frost. In spring, they return to their browsing of the algae and fungi growing on the upper leaves of the waterside plants. The snails can live for about a year and they lay eggs throughout the summer months. Both adult and young snails can be found together over most of the warmer parts of the year, but towards the autumn the adult snails die off.

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