Zonitoides spp.

Family

Zonitidae

Species

Zonitoides (Zonitellus) arboreus (Say, 1819)

Zonitoides nitidus (Muller, 1774)

Common name

Zonitoides (Zonitellus) arboreus: Quick gloss

Zonitoides nitidus: Black gloss

Description

Zonitoides (Zonitellus) arboreus: The flattened-heliciform shellShell:
A hard, inflexible, calcareous or chitinous structure that vary in size and may either completely encasing the animal, covering some part of it or be internal.
of this snail is approximately 5-6 mm in diameter and between 2.4 and 3 mm high. It is often umbilicate (navel-like), dark brown and shiny with irregular, faint incremental wrinkles and microscopic spiralSpiral:
Directional term: direction of the coils of the whorls of a shell; opposite of axial.
striations. The whorlsWhorls:
Pleural of whorl. A whorl is a complete spiral turn/growth of the shell of a mollusc. The whorls are counted from the apex outwards.
are 4-4 1/2 with the embryonic 1 1/2 whorlWhorl:
A complete spiral turn/growth of the shell of a mollusc. The whorls are counted from the apex outwards.
being smooth. The body of the snail is blue-grey, including the tentaclesTentacles:
Sensory projections on the head end of a mollusc. There are generally two pairs; upper (posterior) and smaller, lower (anterior). The upper pair bears the eyes. In many snails the eyes are located at the tips of this structure; however, in Basommatophoran snail species, the eyes are located at the base of the tentacles.
. However, the sides and tail are a lighter in color. The sole of the footFoot:
The muscular organ on the undersurface of the body of a mollusc upon which the animal rests or uses to crawl.
is white or gray with paler flecks along the margin. While moving, the footFoot:
The muscular organ on the undersurface of the body of a mollusc upon which the animal rests or uses to crawl.
shows no waves. The apertureAperture:
The major opening of a shell that the body of the animal may be retracted.
is very lunate (moon-shaped) and wider than high, with a thin peristomePeristome:
Margin of the aperture of a snail's shell. This region may be thickened in mature animals.
(edge of shell's mouth). Zonitoides arboreus does not possess the orange spot on the mantleMantle:
A fleshy, membranous covering of the anterior portion of the body of a mollusc. It secretes the materials that form the shell.
found in Z. nitidus. Also, quick gloss has a slightly flatter spireSpire:
All the coils (whorls) of a shell above the body whorl.
than black gloss.

Zonitoides nitidus: The flattened-heliciform shellShell:
A hard, inflexible, calcareous or chitinous structure that vary in size and may either completely encasing the animal, covering some part of it or be internal.
of the black gloss snail is approximately 5.9-7 mm wide, 3.6-4 mm high, dark brown and shiny. The shellShell:
A hard, inflexible, calcareous or chitinous structure that vary in size and may either completely encasing the animal, covering some part of it or be internal.
has irregular, low wrinkle-like axialAxial:
Directional term: This refers to a vertical direction often parallel to the columella; opposite of spiral.
striae and a total of 4 1/2 to 5 whorlsWhorls:
Pleural of whorl. A whorl is a complete spiral turn/growth of the shell of a mollusc. The whorls are counted from the apex outwards.
. The body of the snail is black with a dull orange spot on the mantleMantle:
A fleshy, membranous covering of the anterior portion of the body of a mollusc. It secretes the materials that form the shell.
. This orange spot can be seen through the shellShell:
A hard, inflexible, calcareous or chitinous structure that vary in size and may either completely encasing the animal, covering some part of it or be internal.
in contracted individuals. It can be located behind the apertural lipApertural lip:
The margin of the aperture, which may be sharp or thickened depending upon the species (Also see lip).
, between the sutureSuture:
The junction/seam between the whorls of a mollusc's shell.
and the periphery. The snail itself is completely black except for one pale fleck along the edges of the footFoot:
The muscular organ on the undersurface of the body of a mollusc upon which the animal rests or uses to crawl.
. The black gloss snail can be distinguished from Zonitoides arboreus by the presence of an orange spot on the mantleMantle:
A fleshy, membranous covering of the anterior portion of the body of a mollusc. It secretes the materials that form the shell.
.

Native range

Zonitoides (Zonitellus) arboreus: North America

Zonitoides nitidus: Holarctic

Distribution

Zonitoides (Zonitellus) arboreus:

North America:

• U. S.: all states but Nevada
• Canada: Alberta, British Columbia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Quebec

South and Central America: Mexico, Costa Rico, Guatemala

Caribbean: Cuba, Santo Domingo, Jamaica, Guadeloupe

Australasia: Australia, New Zealand

Asia: Japan

South Africa

Europe: Prague, Finland, Moscow, Britain, Ireland

Zonitoides nitidus:

North America:

• U.S.: Alaska, Delaware, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin
• Canada: Alberta, British Columbia, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Quebec

Europe

Africa: Algeria

Ecology

Zonitoides (Zonitellus) arboreus: This species can be found in greenhouses and natural habitats and can withstand some desiccation. It is considered to be a key pest in Hawaiian orchid production. It can be found in rotting wood, leaf litter and vegetation. Its movements are very quick for a snail. The eye tentaclesTentacles:
Sensory projections on the head end of a mollusc. There are generally two pairs; upper (posterior) and smaller, lower (anterior). The upper pair bears the eyes. In many snails the eyes are located at the tips of this structure; however, in Basommatophoran snail species, the eyes are located at the base of the tentacles.
are widely separated with characteristically black, slightly bulbous eyes.

Zonitoides nitidus: This species generally lives in marshes, greenhouses and wet areas along the edges of rivers, sloughs, lakes and ponds where it can be found under wood, rocks, and vegetation. Black gloss snails are carnivores and have been noted to be cannibals. This species reproduces mainly by self-fertilizationSelf-fertilization:
This is an event where an organism is produced by the fertilization of an egg by sperm from the same organism. (See also hermaphrodite)
.

Synonyms

Zonitoides (Zonitellus) arboreus:

• Helix arboreus Say, 1816, [Nicholson's] Amer. Edit. British Encycl., vol. 2, art. Conchology, species no. 2, pl. 4, fig. 4.
• H. breweri Newcomb, 1864, Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci., 3:118 (Lake Tahoe, Cal.) Cf. H. B. Baker, Occas. Pap. Mus. Zool. Univ. Mich., 269: 13.
• Zonites arboreus Say, W. G. Binney, 1878, Terr. Moll., 5:114, pl. 29, fig. 3; pl. iii, fig. F (teeth).
• Hyalina arborea var. viridula Cockerell, 1888, Science-Gossip, 24: 257., Custer Co., Colo.
• Hyalina arborea Say, Von Martens, 1892, Biol. Centrali-Amer., Moll., p. 116, pl. 6, figs. 13-13c.
• Zonitoides arboreus (Say), J. Henderson, 1924, Univ Colo. Studies, 13: 147; 1929, 17: 102; 1936, 23: 109, 258; Sterki, 1893, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila.,, p. 394, development of teeth.
• Helix ottonis Pfeiffer, 1840, Arch. Naturg., 6: 251 (Cuba) ; Gould, 1851, Terr. Moll., 2:238.
• Hyalina breweri Newcomb, W. G. Binney, 1864, Land and Fr. W. Sh. N.A., 1: 43, fig. 66.
• Helix whitneyi Newcomb, 1864, Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci., 3: 118 (Lake Tahoe).
• Hyalinia whitneyi Newcomb, W. G. Binney, 1869, L. and Fr. W. Sh. N. A., 1: 32, fig. 37; H. B. Baker, 1931, Nautilus, 44: 98 (identical with Z. arborea).
• Hyalinia (Polita) roseni Lindholm, 1911, Nachrbl. d. d. mal. Ges., 43: 98 (park near Moscow); cf. Lindholm 1922.
  

Zonitoides nitidus:

• Helix nitida Muller, 1774, HIst. Verm., 2: 32 (Fridrichsberg, Denmark).
• Zonites nitidus Muller, W. G. Binney, 1878, Terr. Moll., 5: 113, pl. iii, fig. A (teeth).
• Zonitoides nitius Muller, Dall, 1905, Harriman Alska Exped., 13: 42; F. C. Baker, 1920, Life of the Pleistocene, pp. 307, 339, 389; J. Henderson, Univ. Colo. Studies, 13: 147; 17;102; 23;109; H. B. Baker, 1928, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 80: 38.
• Helix hydrophyla Ingalls, Miles, 1861, Ist. Bienn. Rept. Prog. Geol. Surv. Mich., p 235, 238.
• Helix hydrophila Ingalls in coll., Binney & Bland, 1869, Land and F. W. Sh. N. A., 1: 32 (as synonymn of Hyalina nitida Muller; Greenwich, Washington Co., N.Y.).
  

References

Abbott 1989; Anderson 2005; Cowie et al. 2008; Horsák et al. 2004; Kerney et al. 1979; Kuznik-Kowalska 2011; Pilsbry 1946; Rosenberg and Muratov 2006