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Discus
catskillensis (Pilsbry 1896)
angular disk
Family Discidae
Order Stylommatophora
The angular
disk is a heavily-ridged snail shaped like a tiny discus.
Mature animals have four whorls at approximately 5mm in diameter
(Pilsbry,
1948), and are light brown above, becoming paler
below the “bluntly angular” periphery. The umbilicus
is open and relatively wide, perhaps more than half the shell
width. Its lip is thin. The animal is gray, very dark above.
The angular
disk is flatter and more angular than its cousin Discus
cronkheiti, a wetland species. Immature angular disks
can be distinguished from a smaller relative, Discus patulus,
by their lighter color (not dark or reddish), and by their
more rapidly-expanding whorls. Small D. patulus may
appear more sharply angular than D. catskillensis,
though they will become less so in their final whorl.
An animal
of cooler climates, the angular disk is found on wooded ridges
and slopes, more commonly in the mountainous northern parts
of Pennsylvania (Hubricht,
1985). It is usually in forest among logs or rocks,
but is also found in hedgerows, farms and yards where there
is cover.
Ken Hotopp,
9/28/05
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