Gloss Snails

Zonitidae Mörch, 1864 etc.
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Gloss Snails (Zonitidae) Dagger Snails (Gastrodontidae) Gloss Snails (Oxychilidae) Daudebardias (Daudebardiinae)

Introduction

The name "Gloss Snails" is derived from their shell's glossy exterior. In English, they are often also called "True Glass Snails". However, in the English language, vernacular names of snail species are not as common as in German, the original language of this homepage. So vernacular names will be used directly derived from the scientific name of the species or translated from the German original, at least if they are not commonly used in English.

While in older systematic literature all different groups were grouped together as Zonitidae, today, they have been divided in several different families, which even are placed in different superfamilies. So at firest, a systematic overview is supposed to shed some light on what Gloss Snails (Zonitidae Mörch, 1864) actually are and have been according to older systematics. Then the Zonitidae s.str. will be decribed using two giant glossy snail species, on Central European and one Mediterranean. On separate pages, the remaining (once again Central European) Gloss Snails (Oxychilidae Hesse, 1927 (1879)) will be described with several species, as will the Dagger Snails (Gastrodontidae Tryon, 1866), and finally the Daudebardias (Daudebardiinae Kobelt 1906), a subfamily of predatory half-slugs in the family Oxychilidae.

The main distribution area is located in southeastern Europe, where glossy snails live especially in humid areas of mountain ranges, in rock crevices and rock rubble. Among the glossy snails, there are many species of exclusive predatory snails, which may hunt other snails, but also earth worms. Other species feed on decaying plant matter or carrion. Not only the juveniles like to feed on other snails' eggs.

Systematic Overview

Stylommatophora
Suborder Helicina

Superfamily Zonitoidea
Family Zonitidae Mörch, 1864

Superfamily Gastrodontoidea
Family Oxychilidae Hesse, 1927 (1879)
Subfamily Daudebardiinae Kobelt, 1906
Family Gastrodontidae Tryon, 1866

Sources:

Giant Gloss Snails - Zonitidae Mörch, 1864

Whorled Gloss Snail - Aegopis verticillus (A. Férussac, 1819)

 
Whorled Gloss Snail (Aegopis verticillus) from the Vienna
Woods. Photo: Robert Nordsieck.
   
 
Giant Gloss Snail (Zonites algirus): Hérault, France.
Photo: Bastien Louboutin (iNaturalist).
The largest domestic glossy snail species (and the only domestic species of Zonitidae) is the Whorled Gloss Snail (Aegopis verticillus, Picture on the right), erroneously also called the Giant Gloss Snail. Its shell can reach a diameter of 30 mm, so it is as large as a small Roman Snail.

Whorled Gloss Snail (Aegopis verticillus).

Giant Gloss Snail - Zonites algirus (Linnaeus, 1758)


Zonites algirus: Hérault, France.
Photo: Titouan Roguet (iNaturalist).		  
Description: Zonites algirus is very large. With its flat conical shape, the shell reminds of that of Aegopis verticillus. It is slightly glossy and coloured weakly greenish to bown, often with a whitish underside.

The shell surface is covered by fine spiral striations, which cross with rather rough growth stripes and so make for a characteristic grainy and scarred surface.

The final whorls are weakly shouldered, while the juveniles are more strongly keeled, like those of Aegopis verticillus. The shell navel (Umbilicus) is wide and symmetrical.

Dimensions: B: 30 - 50 mm; W: 6 - 7. Information: Abbreviations

Habitat and Distribution: The Giant Gloss Snail lives in olive groves, vineyards and is also often found in the crevices of old stone walls, on the roadside and in stone rubble. The Giant Gloss Snail is definitively carnivorous.

Zonites algirus is a mediterranean species, commonly found on the southern Peloponnesian Peninsula, the nearby Greek islands, the coast of Asia Minor and, most interestingly southern France (from the Alpes Maritimes southwest into the Hérault, in the Alps near the coast in altitudes as high as 1000 m MSL), as well as southern Italy (Liguria and Apulia).

Links

Literature

 

Latest Change: 27.07.2026 (Robert Nordsieck).