This species is a 'semi-slug' with a flattened, globular shell. The animal is pale grey with darker head and tentacles. It is large in comparison with the shell, and cannot completely retreat into it. The shell is subglobose, somewhat smooth, pellucid and greenish hyaline in colour. The shell has 3 whorls that enlarge rapidly and are somewhat convex. The body whorl is wide and a little flattened below. The suture is wrinkled. The aperture is lunately rounded.[5] The umbilicus is very small.[6]
The width of the shell is 6 mm, the height is 3.5 mm.[5]
4 shells of Vitrina pellucida, scale bar is in mm
Apical view of the shell of Vitrina pellucida.
Umbilical view of the shell of Vitrina pellucida.
Distribution
Distribution of Vitrina pellucida in Europe
This species is known to occur in a number of countries and islands in Western Europe and Central Europe, including:
Food: This species eats liverworts (Jungermanniaceae) and decayed leaves. It will also eat dead earthworms and horse manure.[5]
Habitat: These snails live in moist and shady places, but are not usually observed until late in the autumn.[5] These snails occur both in natural and modified habitats, such as in meadows and grasslands, in deciduous and coniferous forests, and in wasteground.[9]
Eggs: The eggs are deposited in small heaps, and have a membraneous covering.[5]
^Müller O. F. (1774). Vermivm terrestrium et fluviatilium, seu animalium infusoriorum, helminthicorum, et testaceorum, non marinorum, succincta historia. Volumen alterum. - pp. I-XXVI [= 1-36], 1-214, [1-10]. Havniæ & Lipsiæ. (Heineck & Faber).
^Wiese, V. (2014). Die Landschnecken Deutschlands: Finden - Erkennen – Bestimmen. Quelle & Meyer: Wiebelsheim.
^ ab(in Czech) Horsák M., Juřičková L., Beran L., Čejka T. & Dvořák L. (2010). "Komentovaný seznam měkkýšů zjištěných ve volné přírodě České a Slovenské republiky. [Annotated list of mollusc species recorded outdoors in the Czech and Slovak Republics]". Malacologica Bohemoslovaca, Suppl. 1: 1-37. PDF.
^Balashov I. & Gural-Sverlova N. (2012). "An annotated checklist of the terrestrial molluscs of Ukraine". Journal of Conchology41(1): 91-109.
^Welter-Schultes, F.W. 2012. European non-marine molluscs, a guide for species identification: Bestimmungsbuch für europäische Land- und Süsswassermollusken. Planet Poster Editions: Göttingen.
^Olsson I.-M., Stéen M. & Mann H. (1993). "Gastropod hosts of Elaphostrongylus spp. (Protostrongylidae, Nematoda)". Rangifer13(1): 53-55. PDF.
Strøm, H. (1765). Beskrivelse over Norske insecter, forste stykke. Det Trondheimske Selskab Skrifter. 3: 376–439, pl. VI.
Alten, J. W. von. (1812). Systematische Abhandlung über die Erd- und Flußconchylien welche um Augsburg und der umliegenden Gegend gefunden werden. I-XVI, 1–120, Tab. I-XIV.
Pollonera, C. (1884). Monografia del genere Vitrina. Atti della R. Accademia delle Scienze di Torino. 19 (3): 322–342, pl. 10.
Uličný, J. (1883). Bericht über eine neue Varietät von Vitrina pellucida. Malakozoologische Blätter, Kassel, VI N. F., 200–203.
Koch, C. (1876). Ueber einige Mollusken und Arachniden der Oetzthaler Hochalpen. Zeitschrift des deutschen und oesterreichischen Alpenvereins. 7: 217–220.
Bank, R. A.; Neubert, E. (2017). Checklist of the land and freshwater Gastropoda of Europe. Last update: July 16, 2017
Hausdorf, B. (1995). The Vitrinidae of Turkey, with remarks on the phylogeny of Gallandia(Gastropoda: Stylommatophora). Zoologischer Anzeiger, 234: 63–74.
Sysoev, A. V. & Schileyko, A. A. (2009). Land snails and slugs of Russia and adjacent countries. Sofia/Moskva (Pensoft). 312 pp., 142 plates.
