Land Snails

Photo: Carychium minimum.
Image © Roy Anderson

Click photo to enlarge.

Carychium minimum Müller, 1774 (non-native)

Family: Ellobiidae
Common name: Herald Thorn

Identification
Width: 0.9 mm
Height: 1.6-1.9 mm
Whorls: ~4.5 mm

This Eurasian thorn has a relatively fatter shell than its native North American congeners. The glossy shell of Carychium minimum is nearly transparent and colorless (Kerney and Cameron, 1979). Its peristome is thickened and bears three denticles, though only the parietal denticle is pronounced.

Ecology
This tiny and fragile animal is a blind leaf litter denizen, like others in its genus. It has an affinity for wet places – damp forests and marshes (Kerney and Cameron, 1979).

Taxonomy
There are no synonyms.

Distribution
There are scattered records for this Eurasian species across North America. In the Northeast are some early records, but also several recent finds in the Pittsburgh, PA area by Tim Pearce, and in wet areas near Ithaca, NY by Weigand and Jochum (2010). Though some records are from greenhouses or nearby, Carychium minimum may be more frequent and naturalized in North American than records indicate (Weigand and Jochum, 2010).

Conservation
NatureServe Global Rank: G5, Secure.

 

Ken Hotopp 10/2017

Range Map (click to enlarge)