Sandbowl snail  (Catinella arenaria)

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

Threats

The sandbowl snail is under threat on the sites where it is known to occur in the UK. The Devon site, a sand dune system, has suffered from a lack of grazing and a fall in the level of the water table. The Cumbrian sites may suffer if grazing is reduced and the sites become too tussocky.

Conservation

Due to the extreme rarity of the sandbowl snail, it was included in the first tranche of the UK Biodiversity Action Plans (UK BAP) in 1995. Following work to determine population numbers, the snail was added to English Nature's Species Recovery Programme in 1998. Part of the North Devon site is managed by English Nature as a National Nature Reserve (NNR), and the efforts to recover this species have concentrated on increasing the height of the water table by limiting the drainage of adjacent land, and increasing the grazing to produce the bare patches needed by the snail. On the Cumbrian sites, the problem with drainage is also being addressed but there also surveys in progress to identify other sites where the sandbowl snail might be found.

The UK Biodiversity Action Plan for this species is available at UK BAP.
There may be further information about this species available via the National Biodiversity Network Gateway.
View information on this species at the UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre.
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