Land Snails

Photo(s): Views of an Inflectarius rugeli shell © Dan Dourson, with aperture-plane view of an old shell © Ken Hotopp.
Live animal © Bill Frank. Note some loss of the periostacum (protein coat) from the apex of the shell.

Click photo(s) to enlarge.

Inflectarius rugeli (Shuttleworth, 1852)

Family: Polygyridae
Common name: Deep-tooth Shagreen

Identification
Width: 11-15 mm
Height: 7-9 mm
Whorls: 5+

This animal has a very constricted aperture, with large teeth almost blocking the small opening. The parietal tooth is strong and curved; the tooth on the outer lip is recessed; and the small basal tooth is somewhat pointed. The lip is heavily reflected, and guttered behind. The umbilicus of this low, heliciform shell is closed.

The shell of Inflectarius rugeli is covered in a microscopic scale-like sculpture, as others in its genus. These scales follow the pattern of the radial striae, but may be worn down in older shells. The live animal is gray above, paler below.

Ecology
This animal can be found under leaf litter, logs and other features on wooded hills (Coney et al, 1982; Hubricht, 1985).

Taxonomy
Synonyms for I. rugeli include Helix rugeli, Mesodon rugeli, Polygyra rugeli, and Triodopsis rugeli.

Distribution
Inflectarius rugeli lives in the southern Appalachian Mountains, from southern Illinois and West Virginia south to Alabama. In Virginia it occurs only in the far western counties.

Conservation
NatureServe Global Rank: G5
NatureServe State Rank: Virginia, S3S4, Vulnerable to Apparently Secure; West Virginia, SNR, Not Ranked.

 

Meegan Winslow, Ken Hotopp 9/2012

Range Map (click to enlarge)