Parmacella olivieri is a species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 of air-breathing land snail

Land snail

A land snail is any of the many species of snail that live on land, as opposed to those that live in salt water and fresh water. Land snails are terrestrial gastropod mollusks that have shells, It is not always an easy matter to say which species are terrestrial, because some are more or less...

, a terrestrial

Terrestrial animal

Terrestrial animals are animals that live predominantly or entirely on land , as compared with aquatic animals, which live predominantly or entirely in the water , or amphibians, which rely on a combination of aquatic and terrestrial habitats...

 pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Parmacellidae

Parmacellidae

Parmacellidae is a family of air-breathing land slugs, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks within the superfamily Parmacelloidea ....

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Parmacella olivieri is the type species of the genus Parmacella.

Distribution

The distribution of this species includes:

• Northern Egypt
• Northern Libya

Description

The shell

Gastropod shell

The gastropod shell is a shell which is part of the body of a gastropod or snail, one kind of mollusc. The gastropod shell is an external skeleton or exoskeleton, which serves not only for muscle attachment, but also for protection from predators and from mechanical damage...

 is very narrow, thick-walled. The apex

Apex (mollusc)

Apex is an anatomical term for the tip of the mollusc shell of a gastropod, scaphopod, or cephalopod mollusc.-Gastropods:The word "apex" is most often used to mean the tip of the spire of the shell of a gastropod...

 is smooth and glossy amber golden. There are several tubercles and wrinkles in the aperture

Aperture (mollusc)

The aperture is an opening in certain kinds of mollusc shells: it is the main opening of the shell, where part of the body of the animal emerges for locomotion, feeding, etc....

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The animal is brown with chocolate brown bands on the mantle

Mantle (mollusc)

The mantle is a significant part of the anatomy of molluscs: it is the dorsal body wall which covers the visceral mass and usually protrudes in the form of flaps well beyond the visceral mass itself.In many, but by no means all, species of molluscs, the epidermis of the mantle secretes...

. The mantle is up to 20 mm long. The whole animal up to 32 mm long.

Further reading

• Simroth H. (1883) "Anatomie der Parmacella Olivieri Cuv." Jahrbücher der Deutschen Malakozoologischen Gesellschaft 10: 1-46. Plate 1.