Theba pisana - white garden snail

	DISSEMINATION

Kingdom	Animalia
Phylum	Mollusca
Class	Gastropoda
Order	Stylommatophora
Family	Helicidae
Genus	*Theba*
Species	*pisana*
Classification	Mueller
Common name	white garden snail
Size	diameter: 12 - 15 millimeters; height: 9 - 12 millimeters

Geographic Range	it is native to southwestern England and Wales, Ireland, western France, Switzerland, and the Mediterranean countries of Europe and Africa. It has been introduced into the Atlantic islands, South Africa, Somaliland, and western Australia.
Physical Characteristics	the shell is subglobose with a moderately depressed spire. The adult shell has 5 1/2 to 6 slightly convex whorls. The shell is opaque and moderately solid. The aperture of the shell is rounded and lunate and only slightly oblique. The lip of the aperture is sharp, some specimens show a thickening inside the lip. It is is a cross-fertilizing hermaphrodite.
Behaviour	during dry weather, most slugs and snails aestivate hidden under logs or stones or buried in the earth. However, white garden snail aestivates in the open on trees, fences, and other vertical surfaces.
Habitat	in the western coasts of Norhern Adriatic Sea it can be found on the dunes and in few other environments of the lagoon edge area and of lagoon islands.
Reproduction	the laying of the eggs takes place from June to October.

Sources
References	University of Florida - Institute of Food and Agricoltural Sciences
Web References	http://creatures.ifas.ufl.edu/
Source of the photo	http://www.ento.csiro.au/aicn/