Virginia Land Snails

Photo(s): Views of a Glyphyalinia luticola shell, by Dan Dourson ©.

Click photo(s) to enlarge.

Glyphyalinia luticola Hubricht, 1966

Family: Zonitidae                                                                   
Common name: Furrowed Glyph

Identification
Width: 5.7 mm
Height: 2.6 mm
Whorls: 4.5

Glyphyalinia luticola is moderate to large-sized glyph with a low, slightly rounded spire. The very small umbilicus is nearly filled by the inside edge of the shell aperture leaving only a small fissure. The whorls increase moderately quickly in size, their basal surface is slightly rounded. The shiny and translucent shell is sculptured with widely and regularly spaced narrow indentations that run parallel to the nearly invisible growth lines. Shell color is a coppery brown and the animal slate grey. Internally, the epiphallus enters sub-apically, nearly at the center of the penis.

Ecology
This species is usually found in floodplain and swamp forests under leaf litter or on bare mud as well as in anthropogenic habitats (Hubricht, 1985). Most sites where Glyphyalinia luticola occurs have high to moderately high soil pH and the species appears to be an acidophile (Nekola, 2010).

Distribution
This species is widespread in the southeastern United States from New Jersey to eastern Oklahoma and south and east to the Gulf and Atlantic coasts.  It appears most commonly on the coastal plain although sporadic records occur elsewhere.

It is unclear whether this animal occurs in Virginia. Although Hubricht (1985) reports a handful of counties scattered from the Chesapeake Bay area to the southwestern corner of the state, museum records are entirely lacking. However, this species may well occur in Virginia, especially on the coastal plain.

NatureServe Global Rank: G4/G5
NatureServe State Rank: S3

 

John Slapcinsky, Ken Hotopp 10/2012