Land Snails

Photo(s): Images of a Patera laevior shell © Dan Dourson.

Click photo(s) to enlarge.

Patera laevior (Pilsbry, 1940)

Family: Polygyridae
Common name: Smooth Bladetooth

Identification
Width: 15-18 mm
Height: 7-8 mm
Whorls: ~5

The glossy shell of Patera laevior is less angular at the periphery than P. appressa, and bears weaker microsculpture. As in P. appressa, the aperture is wide and rounded, with a broad lip and a sharp rim inside the basal part of the opening.

Ecology
Patera laevior inhabits primarily rocky places in both rural and urban areas. It may occasionally be found near logs, river bluffs, and on the slopes of ravines (Hubricht, 1985).

Taxonomy
Patera laevior has also been known as Mesodon appressus laevior and M. laevior.

Distribution
This snail has a confusing distribution – concentrated on the western side of the Appalachian Mountains in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama but also reported at scattered locations to the East as far as the Chesapeake Bay and North Carolina coast, where it is apparently introduced (Hubricht, 1985). In Virginia it is reported only from Pittsylvania and Dinwiddie Counties, though we did not find museum records for the latter.

Conservation
NatureServe Global Rank: G4
NatureServe State Rank: S2S4
Virginia’s wildlife action plan: Tier IV

 

Meegan Winslow, Ken Hotopp 11/2012

Range Map (click to enlarge)