Cecilioides acicula

Cecilioides acicula
Two fresh shells of Cecilioides acicula, the scale bar is in millimeters
Conservation status
NE[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
(unranked):	clade Heterobranchia clade Euthyneura clade Panpulmonata clade Eupulmonata clade Stylommatophora informal group Sigmurethra
Superfamily:	Achatinoidea
Family:	Ferussaciidae
Genus:	Cecilioides
Subgenus:	Cecilioides
Species:	C. acicula
Binomial name
Cecilioides acicula (O. F. Müller, 1774)[2]
Synonyms
Caecilianella acicula (Müller)

Cecilioides acicula, common name the "blind snail" or "blind awlsnail", is a species of very small, air-breathing land snail, a pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Ferussaciidae. ^[3]

This is a subterranean species.

Description

This animal is white, there are two pairs of tentacles, but eyes are lacking. ^[4]

The shell is long and narrow, up to a maximum of 5.5 mm and a width of 1.2 mm.^[5] The shell is colorless, glassy and transparent when it is fresh, a somewhat opaque milky-white when it is not fresh.

Habitat

The habitat of this species is underground, quite some distance below the surface. It is more common in soils with a high level of calcium.^[5]

Because of its subterranean habitat, this species is often found only as an empty shell, in such places as mole hills, ant hills, or in flood debris of rivers.

Distribution

Distribution of this species is central European and southern European.^[6]

This species native range is Mediterranean Europe, specifically (Spain, …), Western Europe (Great Britain and Ireland,^[7] Netherlands,^[8] …) and Central Europe (Czech Republic - least concern (LC),^[9] Poland, Slovakia, Ukraine^[10] …).

It has also been accidentally introduced to several other countries:

• Latvia since 2006^[11]
• Bermuda since 1861^[12]
• Canada: Ontario ^[13]
• The USA (in Pennsylvania and in Florida,^[14] in Maryland since 1959,^[15] in Virginia since 2006,^[16] in California, in New Jersey and in New Mexico^[17])
• New Zealand.^[18]
• Australia ^[19]

References

1. IUCN 2007. 2007 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 26 August 2008.
2. Müller, O. F. 1774. Vermivm terrestrium et fluviatilium, seu animalium infusoriorum, helminthicorum, et testaceorum, non marinorum, succincta historia. Volumen alterum. - pp. I-XXVI [= 1-36], 1-214, [1-10]. Havniæ & Lipsiæ. (Heineck & Faber).
3. Marshall, B. (2014). Ceciliodes acicula (O. F. Müller, 1774). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=819998 on 2014-11-06
4. Adam, W. 1960. Mollusques. Faune de Belgique, Tome 1, mollusques terrestres et dulcicoles. Bruxelles: Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique. 402 pp., 4 pl.
5. M.P. Kerney and R.A.D. Cameron, 1979, A Field Guide to the Land Snails of Britain and North-west Europe. Collins, London, ISBN 0-00-219676-X
6. (Slovak) Lisický M. J. (1991). Mollusca Slovenska. [The Slovak molluscs]. VEDA vydavateľstvo Slovenskej akadémie vied, Bratislava, 344 pp.
7. Anderson, R. 2005. An Annotated List of the Non-Marine Mollusca of Britain and Ireland. InvertebrateIreland Online, Ulster Museum, Belfast and National Museum of Ireland , Dublin http://www.habitas.org.uk/InvertebrateIreland/species.asp?item=4173, cited 26 August 2008.
8. http://www.anemoon.org/anm/voorlopige-kaarten/kaarten-per-soort/landmollusken/wetenschappelijk/cecilioides-acicula Cecilioides acicula, cited 27 August 2008
9. Juřičková L., Horsák M. & Beran L., 2001: Check-list of the molluscs (Mollusca) of the Czech Republic. Acta Soc. Zool. Bohem., 65: 25-40.
10. Balashov I. & Gural-Sverlova N. 2012. An annotated checklist of the terrestrial molluscs of Ukraine. Journal of Conchology. 41 (1): 91-109.
11. Šteffek J., Stalažs A. & Dreijers E., 2008: Snail fauna of the oldest cemeteries from Riga (Latvia). – Malacologica Bohemoslovaca, 7: 79–80. Online serial at <http://mollusca.sav.sk> 29-September-2008.
12. Bieler, R. & Slapcinsky, J. 2000. A case study for development of an island fauna: recent terrestrial mollusks of Bermuda. Nemouria No. 44:1-99.
13. Forsyth, R.G., M.J. Oldham, & F.W. Schueler. 2008. Mollusca, Gastropoda, Ellobiidae, Carychium minimum, and Ferussaciidae, Cecilioides acicula: distribution extension and first provincial records of two introduced land snails in Ontario, Canada. Check List 4(4): 449–452. PDF
14. Pilsbry, H.A. 1946. Land Mollusca of North America (north of Mexico). Volume 2, part 1. Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia.
15. Grimm, W. 1959. Land snails of Carroll County, Maryland. Nautilus 72:122-127.
16. Aydın Örstan 2007. A new record of Cecilioides acicula from North America (Pulmonata: Ferussaciidae). Triton, March 2007, no 15, page 38. See also http://snailstales.blogspot.com/2007/03/cecilioides-acicula-tiny-invader-from.html
17. http://www.natureserve.org cited in 26 August 2008 Comprehensive Report Species - Cecilioides acicula
18. Barker, G.M. 1999. Naturalised terrestrial Stylommatophora (Mollusca: Gastropoda). Fauna of New Zealand. No. 38. Manaaki Whenua Press.
19. Bonham K (2005) Cecilioides acicula (Muller 1774) (Pulmonata: Ferussaciidae), a burrowing land snail introduced into Tasmania Tasmanian Naturalist 127:42-44

• Spencer, H.G., Marshall, B.A. & Willan, R.C. (2009). Checklist of New Zealand living Mollusca. Pp 196-219 in Gordon, D.P. (ed.) New Zealand inventory of biodiversity. Volume one. Kingdom Animalia: Radiata, Lophotrochozoa, Deuterostomia. Canterbury University Press, Christchurch.

External links

• Cecilioides acicula at Animalbase taxonomy,short description, distribution, biology,status (threats), images
• Cecilioides acicula Fauna Europaea