| White Garden Snail (Theba pisana (Müller, 1774)) |
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Scientific name: Theba pisana (Müller, 1774) Common name: White Garden Snail Other names: Sand Hill Snail, White Italian Snail, Mediterranean Coastal Snail. French name: Escargot blanc Order: Stylommatophora Size: Shell's diameter: 12 to 25 mm. Habitat : Open and dry areas, fallow lands, hills, coastal dunes. Food: Vegetarian. Reproduction : Cross-fertilizing hermaphrodite. Geographic area: All around the Mediterranean sea, Western Europe Atlantic coasts north to the Netherlands, Cornwall, southern Wales and east coasts of Ireland. This species was also introduced to Somalia, South Africa, western Australia, California and the Bermuda Islands. |
The White Garden Snail, as implied by its common name, has a very pale globular creamy white shell. Some snails can show dark brown marks in form of interrupted or uninterrupted spiral lines or small radial smudges. The shell spiral includes 5.5 to 6 whorls. This species aestivates attached to vertical supports like fences, tall weeds, bushes or trees. |
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I have mainly observed high important populations of White Garden Snails in sandy coastal areas in summer. |
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It seems to me that there are no predators for these White Garden Snails when they are stuck in groups on these tall weeds. |
André Bon December 2008