Pupilla triplicata 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 minute 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 or micromollusk

Micromollusk

A micromollusk is a descriptive term for a shelled mollusk which is extremely small, even at full adult size. The word is usually, but not exclusively, applied to marine mollusks, although in addition, numerous species of land snails and freshwater mollusks also reach adult size at very small...

 in the family Pupillidae

Pupillidae

Pupillidae is a family of mostly minute, air-breathing, land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks or micromollusks in the clade Stylommatophora....

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Distribution

The distribution of this species is central-European and southern-European and it include South Europe from Pyrenees to Alps, Carpathians, Crimea, northern Turkey, Transcaucasia and central Asia to Lake Baikal.

It occurs in countries and islands including

• lower concern in Switzerland
• endangered in Germany, extinct in Rheinland-Pfalz
• vulnerable in Austria
• Czech Republic
• Slovakia
• Poland

Pupilla triplicata has scattered distribution, populations in lower altitudes are threatened by habitat destruction

Habitat destruction

Habitat destruction is the process in which natural habitat is rendered functionally unable to support the species present. In this process, the organisms that previously used the site are displaced or destroyed, reducing biodiversity. Habitat destruction by human activity mainly for the purpose of...

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Description

The shell of Pupilla triplicata is much smaller than Pupilla sterrii

Pupilla sterrii

Pupilla sterrii is a species of minute air-breathing land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk or micromollusk in the family Pupillidae.- Distribution :...

and the other Pupilla species. The structure of the surface is finer. Whorls

Whorl (mollusc)

A whorl is a single, complete 360° revolution or turn in the spiral growth of a mollusc shell. A spiral configuration of the shell is found in of numerous gastropods, but it is also found in shelled cephalopods including Nautilus, Spirula and the large extinct subclass of cephalopods known as the...

 are convex. The cervical callus is present but not extremely strong. There are usually 3 teeth 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 height of the shell is 2.2-2.8 (up to 4) mm. The width of the shell is 1.4 mm (shell diameter should not exceed much 1.4 mm).

Ecology

Pupilla triplicata occur in grass at limestone

Limestone

Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....

 rocks, dry and sunny habitats, often at limestone rock rubble with xerophilous vegetation.Mainly between 300 and 1000 m, in Switzerland up to 2600 m.