About Helicella itala (Linnaeus, 1758)
This species, the common heath snail, has a shell 12 to 20 mm wide. The shell is broad and very depressed, with an open coil that forms a convex, low spire. The umbilicus is very wide. Its whorls are slightly convex, with shallow sutures. The aperture is elliptical and has no internal rib. The outer shell surface (the periostracum) is white or pale yellow-brown. The shell often, but not always, has dark brown or yellow-brown spiral bands, and the surface bears fine irregular growth ridges. Helicella itala is a West Palearctic species found in the British Isles, France, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland, Denmark, Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, and Poland. These snails live in dry, exposed habitats, including roadsides, railway embankments, vegetated sand dunes, rock boulders, and short grassland. They can be found up to 2000 m above sea level in the Alps and Pyrenees. The eggs of this species are 1.5 mm wide, and individuals produce and use love darts during mating.
