Land Snails

Photos: Image not available at this time

Allopeas clavulinum (Potiez and Michaud, 1838) (non-native)

Family: Subulinidae
Common name: Spike Awlsnail

Identification
Width: 2.5-4.5 mm
Height: 7.5-9.0 mm
Whorls: 7

This species has an elongate, nearly straight-sided shell that is glossy and translucent (Kerney and Cameron, 1979). The lip of the aperture is simple, the umbilicus is perforate. The live animal is pale yellow. The shell is smaller than the very-similar A. mauritianum and its spire is wider than A. gracile (Pilsbry, 1906 in Malay Peninsular Terrestrial Molluscs, 2017).

Ecology
In Malaysia, Allopeas clavulinum is a litter-dwelling species, living among stones, leaves, grass and soil, from 300 to 2000 m altitude (Benthem-Jutting, 1952 in Malay Peninsular Terrestrial Molluscs, 2017).

Taxonomy
Also known as Lamellaxis clavulinus. Some authors have synonymized this species within A. mauritianum.

Distribution
Probably from East Africa and Indonesia, spread into European greenhouses (Kerney and Cameron, 1979). In the Northeast it has been collected in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.

Conservation
NatureServe Explorer rank: G5, Secure.

 

Ken Hotopp 11/2017

Range Map (click to enlarge)