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Terrestrial
Gastropods of the Columbia Basin, British Columbia
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ZONITIDAE Mörch, 1864 Genus Nesovitrea C.M. Cooke, 1921
Description: Shell small (width to about 3.7 mm), depressed-heliciform, thin, translucent, glossy and almost colourless with a greenish or greenish-yellow tinge; spire low, convex; whorls scarcely convex on the spire and numbering about 3.5; whorls rapidly enlarging in width; periphery rounded; suture deep and appearing to be bordered by an opaque band; protoconch smooth; teleoconch with rather regularly spaced axial riblets with shallow, equally sized grooves between and with exceedingly fine (and sometimes obsolete), closely spaced spiral striae visible in some shells at ×50 magnification; aperture ovate, oblique and without denticles; outer lip unthickened; umbilicus 14-19% of the width of the shell. Similar Species: The shell is smaller and more greenish-yellow in colour than Nesovitrea electrina and with exceedingly faint spiral striae that may sometimes be evident with magnification. Habitat: Leaf litter and under rocks and logs. Range: British Columbia and Alberta; Montana, Colorado and California; Ontario, Maine, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan (Pilsbry 1946). Distribution: Widespread, both inland and on the coast. Notes: A western 'subspecies', Nesovitrea binneyana occidentalis, is said to differ from the typical N. binneyana by having stronger spiral striae (Pilsbry 1946). Name: "Neso" meaning island, referring to the Hawaiian Islands from where the type species of the genus originates, and "Vitrea", a European genus of snails. Species name in honour of William G. Binney, American malacologist (1833-1909). Records: Betania Road, near Sand Creek, W of
Galloway (49°22.23'N, 115°14.59'W) (Forsyth Coll. 97-105-860);
Kaslo (49°55'N, 116°55'W) (Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde
Görlitz); Albert Canyon Road, near Albert Canyon Hotsprings
Campground, E of Revelstoke (51°07.94'N, 117°51.61'W) (RBCM
998-00284-002); Hwy. 1, 4 km E of Canyon Hot Spring (circa 51°09.5'N,
117°49'W) (Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Görlitz);
Field (51°24'N, 116°29'W) (Vanatta 1906). "East Kootenay
District" (Baker 1930; Pilsbry
1946). View the map.
Nesovitrea electrina
(Gould, 1841): Amber Glass
Nesovitrea electrina 
Description: Shell small (width, to 4.6 mm), depressed-heliciform; very thin, translucent, glossy; corneous or brown; spire low, convex; whorls slightly convex and numbering about 3.25-3.75; whorls rapidly enlarging in width; periphery rounded; suture moderately deep; protoconch smooth; teleoconch with sharply incised, deep axial grooves that are often more or less regularly spaced; between these major grooves are fine axial striae; base smoother; aperture nearly round or ovate, oblique and without denticles; outer lip not thickened; umbilicus 16% of the width of the shell. The animal is darkly pigmented. The head, back and tentacles are almost black, the edges of the foot and the sole is very dark grey (Pilsbry 1946). Similar Species: Nesovitrea binneyana. Habitat: Under rocks and dead wood and in leaf litter. Reported at 3,048 m [10,000 ft] elevation in Montana by Vanatta (1914). Range: Kodiak Island, Alaska, to Labrador and south to Arizona (Pilsbry 1946). Distribution: Widespread in British Columbia. Notes: Some authors have considered N. electrina to be the same as the Eurasian N. hammonis (Ström, 1765). Bequaert & Miller (1973) accepted electrina as a North American subspecies of N. hammonis. Name: Species name meaning "amber", describing the translucency and colour of the shell. Records: Creston Valley Interpretation Centre; opposite side of marsh (49°07`34 N, 116°37`24) (RBCM 998-00264-009); W side of Slocan River, just S of Winlaw (49°35.66'N, 117°35.47'W) (RBCM 998-00279-005); North end of Slocan Lake (49°54.04'N, 117°23.25'W) (RBCM 998-00266-004); Kaslo (49°55'N, 116°55'W) (Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Görlitz); Columbia Lake, adjacent to Canal Flats Park (50°10.65'N, 115°49.03'W) (RBCM 998-00294-003); Dogtooth Forest Service Rd. near bridge over Columbia River, Golden (51°18.7'N, 116°59.5'W) (Forsyth Coll. 98-093-3060); Field (51°24'N, 116°29'W) (Vanatta 1906); Bluewater Creek Forest Recreation Site, near Donald Station (51°31.84'N, 117°15.27'W) (Forsyth Coll. 98-095-3151); Lake Revelstoke, Hwy 37 to Mica Dam (51°39.56'N, 118°33.73'W) (RBCM 998-00258-005); unnamed creek, W of Brewster Creek (51°38.32'N, 118°32.32'W) (RBCM 998-00257-003). "East Kootenay District" (Baker 1930; Pilsbry 1946). View the map. Genus Pristiloma Ancey, 1887 Pristiloma chersinella (Dall, 1866): Black-foot Tightcoil
Description: Shell small (width, 3.3 mm), depressed-heliciform, glossy, slightly translucent, pale yellowish; spire moderately raised; whorls convex and numbering 4.5-5; periphery rounded; suture moderately deep; teleoconch with fine axial striae and exceedingly minute spiral striae (at high magnification); aperture narrowly crescent-shaped and without denticles; outer lip unthickened and not expanded; umbilicus small, about 10% of the width of the shell. The animal has black pigmentation on the foot and edge of the mantle (Baker 1931). In life, the shell appears dark with the animal showing through. Similar Species: There are no other species of umbilicate Pristiloma known from British Columbia. Euconulus fulvus is similar in form but is brown rather than yellowish and the umbilicus is proportionately smaller. Habitat: P. chersinella has been reported from northern Montana at altitudes of 3859-6000 ft. [1176-1828 m], under sticks, bark and small logs (Berry 1919). In the Babine Range, Hazelton Mountains, near Smithers, this species has been found under rocks, dead wood and moss, at and below the tree line at altitudes of 1158-1524 m, in old slide areas, melt-water run-off areas and spruce forests. At an altitude of 1740 m in the Kisoo Pass, British Columbia, P. chersinella was collected from under stones. Range: Oregon and California (Pilsbry 1946) and British Columbia. Distribution: In British Columbia, presently known only from the Babine Mountains, near Smithers, and Kisoo Pass. These records represent a significant range extension north from Oregon. Name: Genus name meaning "sawed edge" and referring to the denticulate lip rib often present in Pristiloma lansingi. Species name the diminutive of chersina, meaning "dry land". Notes: The correct date of this name is 1866, not 1886 as generally given. Records: Lodgepole Road at Kisoo Pass, SE of Fernie (49°17.03'N, 114°42.72'W) (RBCM 998-00288-001). View the map.
Zonitoides arboreus (Say, 1816): Quick Gloss
Description: Shell small (width to 5.6 mm), depressed-heliciform; translucent brown, somewhat glossy; spire convex; whorls moderately convex and numbering 4-4.5; periphery rounded; suture moderately deep; protoconch of 1½ smooth whorls; teleoconch with irregularly placed, weak growth wrinkles and extremely fine, close spiral striae; base smoother; aperture ovate and without denticles; outer lip unthickened and not expanded; umbilicus about 16-25% of the width of the shell. The animal is bluish grey on the tentacles and back and lighter on the sides and tail. Similar Species: Z. nitidus is larger, with a more elevated spire. It also lacks the exceeding fine spiral striae which are usually evident under magnification in Z. arboreus, and the colour of the animals' bodies are markedly different. The shells of introduced European snails of the genus Oxychilus are also similar but are glossier, flatter spired and less striate. Of the introduced Oxychilus (Forsyth in press), O. alliarius is the most similar of these, but the animal exudes a pungent odour of garlic when irritated. Habitat: This is an ubiquitous species living in a variety of habitats in lowlands and in higher elevations, where it occurs under rocks, dead wood, fallen leaves and vegetation. Z. arboreus is capable of living in a gravely substrate, but also in wetter habitats, and in general, this species prefers drier conditions than the next species. Vanatta (1914) reported Zonitoides arboreus at 1,471 m [4,825 ft] elevation in Montana. Range: Great Slave Lake, Northwest Territories, and British Columbia east to Newfoundland and south in the United States, Mexico and Central America to Costa Rica; West Indies (Pilsbry 1946; Bequaert & Miller 1973). Introduced to Kamtschatka, Japan, eastern and northwest Europe, Iceland, Israel, Madeira, South Africa, Australia and Hawaii (Dall 1905; Likharev & Rammel'meier 1952; Bequaert & Miller 1973; Mienis 1977; Kerney & Cameron 1979; Cameron & Cooke 1996). Distribution: Very widespread throughout the province and the Columbia Basin. This species is much more generally distributed and more common than Z. nitidus. Name: Genus name derived from the resemblance to Zonites, a genus of snails in Europe. Species name meaning "of the trees". Records: Creston Valley Wildlife Management
Area (49°07.19'N, 116°37.82'W) (RBCM 998-00282-004); Creston
Valley, Creston Valley Interpretation Centre (49°07.34'N, 116°37.24'W)
(RBCM 998-00264-010); Glenmarry Creek Road, near Nancy Greene Provincial
Park (49°15.94'N, 17°56.36'W) (RBCM 998-00280-002); Fairmount
Hotsprings, S end of Windermere Lake, off Hwy. 95 (49°19.88'N,
115°50.34'W) (RBCM 998-00300-002); Moyie Lake Park, Moyie Lake
(49°22.3'N, 115°51.0'W) (Forsyth Coll. 97-102-1052); Near
Weaver Creek, along logging road following Moyie River, S of Cranbrook
(49°24.50'N, 115°59.95'W) (RBCM 998-00298-002); Elk River
valley, along Hwy. 3, S of Fernie (circa 49°27.5'N, 115°4.2'W)
(Forsyth Coll. 97-109-655); Rampart Rest Area, Hwy 3/93, NW of Wardner
(49°32.91'N, 115°38.67'W) (Forsyth Coll. 97-104-1040); McDonalds
Landing, West Arm, Kootenay Lake, near Six Mile, NE of Nelson (49°34.75'N,
117°12.99'W) (Forsyth Coll. 97-094-1093); W side of Slocan River,
just S of Winlaw (49°35.66'N, 117°35.47'W) (RBCM 998-00279-006);
Kokanee Creek Park, West Arm, Kootenay Lake (49°36.2'N, 117°7.7'W)
(Forsyth Coll. 97-095-1087); E shore of Kootenay Lake, near boat
launch S of ferry, Kootenay Bay (49°40.4'N, 116°52.3'W)
(Forsyth Coll. 97-097-1098); Columbia Lake, adjacent to Canal Flats
Provincial Park (50°10.65'N, 115°49.03'W) (RBCM 998-00294-002);
N end of Trout Lake, E of Upper Arrow Lake (50°38.75'N, 117°32.32'W)
(RBCM 998-00285-007); Blanket Creek Provincial Park, S of Revelstoke
(50°50'N, 118°05'W) (Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde
Görlitz); Albert Canyon Road, near Albert Canyon Hotsprings
Campground, E of Revelstoke (51°07.94'N, 117°51.61'W) (RBCM
998-00284-003); Sale Creek Road, Revelstoke (51°09.1'N, 118°11.0'W)
(RBCM 998-00260-004); Hwy. 1, 4 km E of Canyon Hot Spring (circa
51°09.5'N, 117°49'W) (Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde
Görlitz); W of snow sheds, Glacier National Park (circa
51°15.5'N, 117°28'W) (Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde
Görlitz); Hunter Creek Forest Recreation Site, along Kicking
Horse Rive, ESE of Golden (51°15.95'N, 116°44.69'W) (Forsyth
Coll. 98-092-3297); Field (51°24'N, 116°29'W) (Vanatta 1906;
Pilsbry 1946); Doyle Rest Area, Hwy. 1, 20 km N of Golden (51°26.55'N,
117°05.31'W) (RBCM 998-00275-001); Bluewater Creek Forest Recreation
Site, near Donald Station (51°31.84'N, 117°15.27'W) (Forsyth
Coll. 98-095-3149). View the map.
Zonitoides nitidus (Müller, 1774): Black Gloss
Description: Shell small to medium sized (width, 5.9 mm), depressed-heliciform, brown; translucent with opaque patches; spire moderately raised; whorls slightly convex and numbering 4.75-5; suture moderately impressed; protoconch smooth; teleoconch with irregular, low wrinklelike axial ribs and axial striae but without the exceedingly fine spiral striae of Z. arboreus; base smoother than Z. arboreus as well; aperture subovate and without denticles; outer lip unthickened; umbilicus approximately 20% of the width of the shell. The animal is black throughout. Pilsbry (1946) noted some lighter flecks along the edges of the foot. There is a pale, somewhat orangish spot on the mantle which can be seen through the shell back from the outer lip between the suture and the periphery. Similar Species: Z. arboreus is slightly smaller, more depressed and more widely umbilicate. Additionally, the extremely fine, microscopic spiral lines present in Z. arboreus are lacking in Z. nitidus. The pigmentation of the animal, as well as the habitat preference, also differ. Habitat: Usually in wet places, under wood, rocks and vegetation, in marshes along the edges of rivers, sloughs, lakes and ponds. Range: Holarctic: Alaska east to Hudson Bay and south to southern California (Pilsbry 1946); Iceland (Kerney & Cameron 1979), most of Europe, north Africa and Asia east to Japan (Ellis1969). Introduced to Madeira (Cameron & Cooke 1996) and Australia (Ellis 1969). Distribution: Z. nitidus is not as common as Z. arboreus in British Columbia. In the Columbia Basin, the species was collected at the north end of Slocan Lake. Name: Species name emphasizing the black colour of the animal. Record: N end of Slocan Lake (49°54.04' N, 117°23.25' W) (RBCM 998-00266-003). View the map. |
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