Virginia Land Snails

Euconulus chersinus (Say, 1821)

Photo(s): Top and side views of a Euconulus chersinus shell by David Kirsch © and edited by Bill Frank ©

Click photo(s) to enlarge.

Family: Euconulidae
Common name: Wild Hive

Identification
Width: 2.4-3.0 mm
Height: 2.2-3.5 mm
Whorls: 6-8

The shell of Euconulus chersinus is beehive-shaped, with a thin lip and closed umbilicus. The cross-hatched, fine radial and spiral striae give the shell surface a matte finish, rather than very glossy. Adult specimens are relatively taller than other Euconulus species. There are no internal teeth.

Ecology
Euconulus chersinus can be found in moist leaf litter on wooded hillsides and steep valleys (Hubricht, 1985; Dourson, 2010).

Taxonomy
Synonyms for E. chersinus include Helix chersina and Conulus chersinus.

Distribution
This animal is found in the Southeast as far west as the Mississippi River (Hubricht, 1985). It is unclear to what extent Euconulus chersinus is found in Virginia - Hubricht (1985) did not report it in the state. It does occur in several counties of neighboring Kentucky (Dourson, 2010). Here we map the museum specimen records, but because beehive snails are difficult to identify there are undoubtedly some mistaken reports.

NatureServe Global Rank: G5
NatureServe State Rank: not ranked

 

Ken Hotopp 2/2013

Range Map