Sphincterochila candidissima 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 Sphincterochilidae

Sphincterochilidae

Sphincterochilidae is a taxonomic family of air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Helicoidea ....

.

Subspecies

• Sphincterochila candidissima crassa (Pallary, 1926) http://www.femorale.com.br/shellphotos/detail.asp?species=Sphincterochila+candidissima+crassa+(Pallary%2C+1926)&url=%2Fshellphotos%2Fthumbpage.asp%3Fprov%3D%26family%3DSPHINCTEROCHILIDAE%26cod%3D5087

Distribution

Italy, Malta and others.

Shell 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 subimperforate, globose, solid and cretaceous. The shell has 5 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...

, rather flattened, the upper ones carinate above the suture, carina afterwards becoming evanescent. The last whorl

Body whorl

Body whorl is part of the morphology of a coiled gastropod mollusk.- In gastropods :In gastropods, the body whorl, or last whorl, is the most recently-formed and largest whorl of a spiral or helical shell, terminating in the aperture...

is deflected in front. The peristome is subpatulous, thickened within.

The width of the shell is 16–25 mm.

External links

• http://www.animalbase.uni-goettingen.de/zooweb/servlet/AnimalBase/home/species?id=1303