A Guide for Terrestrial Gastropod Identification - University of ...

TAXON AUTHOR
G-
RANK DISTRIBUTION
Leidyula floridana (Leidy, 1851) G2G4 FL, LA
Vitrinidae
Barry Roth, San Francisco, CA
Vitrinids are snails or semislugs with the shell small to medium sized, very thin, glassy,
transparent, helicoid to ear shaped, with few, rapidly expanding whorls. The body whorl is
capacious, the aperture large, strongly oblique, and broader than high. The umbilicus is narrow
or absent. In most cases the animal is unable to retract completely within its shell. One or more
lobes of the mantle sometimes lap onto the shell. The radular teeth have long cusps; with two or
more cusps present on marginal teeth. The foot is narrow, with a tripartite sole. There is no
caudal mucus pit. The anterior cephalic tentacles are inconspicuous.
Vitrinidae is a Holarctic clade, also extending to central Africa and some Atlantic islands. Only
the semislug genus Vitrina occurs in North America.
In Europe and western North America, vitrinids are found in a variety of moderately
humid places, including woods and grassland. In the southern part of their range, such as the
Sierra Nevada, California, and the southern Rocky Mountains, they occupy higher elevations and
are found in habitats such as moist montane meadows, stream banks in moss and grasses, on
bases of plants such as corn lily (Veratrum californicum), under pine bark, logs, and sticks on
ground; in aspen thickets, and under willows at edges of meadows.
Information summarized from Pilsbry (1946), Forcart (1955), Hubricht (1985).
TAXON AUTHOR
G-
RANK DISTRIBUTION
MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, NH, NY, PA, RI, VT, WI; Canada: NB, NF,
Vitrina angelicae Beck, 1837 G5 NS, ON, QC
Vitrina pellucida (Muller, 1774) G5 AK, CA, CO, ID, MT, NM, OR, SD, TX, UT; Canada: AB, BC, QC
Vitrina pellucida alaskana Dall, 1905 G5T5 AK, AZ, CA, NM, OR, WA; Canada: BC
61