Land Snails

Photo: Vertigo clappi shell © Jeff Nekola.

Click photo to enlarge.

Vertigo clappi (Brooks and Hunt, 1936)

Family: Vertiginidae

Identification
Height: ~1.5 mm
Width:  ~0.8 mm
Whorls: 5

This species shares with Vertigo alabamensis an upper palatal lamella whose long-axis is exposed in apertural view. It differs from V. alabamensis by possessing a much smaller and more conical shell, with a deeper suture and an open umbilicus. It also shares a similar size and general shell shape with V. milium. However, it differs from V. milium by not possessing a long, curved lower palatal lamella.

Ecology
Vertigo clappi favors well-rotted, humid leaf litter and fine soil on shaded boulders, talus, ledges, and bases of forested lime-rich bedrock outcrops (Nekola & Coles 2010).

Distribution
Vertigo clappi ranges from the mountains of southeastern Tennessee, north along the Appalachians to the north shore of Lake Ontario in southern Quebec. 
In Virginia, this species occurs in three counties in the northern and central mountains.  It is expected throughout the west, especially in cool, calcareous sites which wile not wet maintain high humidity. 

NatureServe Global Rank: G1G2
NatureServe State Rank: S1S2
Virginia’s wildlife action plan: Tier III

 

Jeff Nekola 9/2012

Range Map (click to enlarge)