Park list: White-lipped snail (Cepaea hortensis)

White-lipped snail (Cepaea hortensis)

Snails Helicidae

17 April 2022

6 April 2022

18 February 2019

Shell height: 15 to 16 mm, width 16 to 22 mm. The white-lipped banded snail has a glossy, smooth shell, which is typically yellow in colour but may be pink, brown or red, with up to 5 variable spiral dark bands and nearly always has an obvious white lip around the shell opening. The body of the snail is usually greenish-grey becoming yellow towards the rear.

Very similar to Cepaea nemoralis, the Brown-lipped Snail, but generally smaller and of course having a pale band around the lip of the shell, not dark. However this lip can break off so it is not always clear cut. Arianta arbustorum can also be broadly similar but this species usually has blotches as well as the stripes.

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18/2/19

The White-lipped Snail comes in different colour forms, but always has a white band around the opening of its shell. It prefers damp spots in wide range of habitats, from gardens to grasslands, woods to hedges.

The White-lipped Snail is similar in appearance to the Brown-lipped Snail, but is generally smaller and has a white band around the edge of the shell opening, rather than a brown one. The White-lipped Snail lives in a variety of damp habitats, including gardens, hedgerows, woodland, grassland, wasteland, sand dunes and clifftops. It prefers to eat nettles, Ragwort and Hogweed.