About Neohelix albolabris (Say, 1817)
Neohelix albolabris (Say, 1817) is a species of air-breathing land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk that belongs to the family Polygyridae. This species has two alternate scientific names: Helix albolabris and Triodopsis albolabris. It holds the distinction of being the first land snail species described by an American-born naturalist, Thomas Say, who formally named it in 1817. Neohelix albolabris is counted among the largest native land snail species in North America. Its native geographic range stretches from Maine in the northeast to Georgia in the southeast of the United States, and extends westward all the way to the Mississippi River. In the northern portion of this species’ range, mature individuals can grow shells that reach up to 30 millimeters in diameter. In the southern part of its range, mature individuals can grow even larger, with shells reaching up to 40 millimeters in diameter. Edward S. Morse, an early naturalist and illustrator based in New England, recorded that what he called Helix albolabris was one of the three most common land snail species found in New England. Morse wrote extensively about this species in his pioneering work Land Snails of New England, which was released in serialized form in 1867 and 1868, printed in the first volume of The American Naturalist.
