This is an unusual native terrestrial Land Snail (Gastropoda) in the woods - out of it's shell and moving along! I think this is the first time I've actually seen one, though I often find their pretty shells in winter. It's not that they are rare so much as rarely seen. I guess they are nocturnal. I found this one under a board by the mailbox this morning, after we got a bit of rain from a winter storm last
night. (San Marcos Pass, 4 November 2011)
This snail has a flat shell that turns clockwise. It is NOT one of the nasty introduced Garden Snails (Helix aspersa) that were apparently brought to California over 100 years ago as a food source. Introduced snails have a vertical shell. Fortunately we don't have those snails here in the mountains.
I have no idea what species this snail is. A web site I found lists 28 taxa of gastropods known just for Ventura County to the south of us, and there is a list of 279 species in California! Maybe this is genus Helminthoglypta? The web site is: http://www.magney.org/photofiles/VenturaCountySnails1.htm/VenturaCountySnails1.htm
We had some rain last last night and today, and it's turned cold - in the low 40s, and it will probably dip into the 30s tonight. We only got a tenth of an inch or so, but at least it will keep the seedlings alive.
On November 04 2011 27 Views
Karen_lee_baur1 On 05/11/2011
I've always liked snails - since I was very little. I'm not sure they are what you would call 'cute' but I find them very amusing little chaps! I have plans for a snail photo soon (as long as I can still find any in our garden) We had 14c yesterday so it is still unusually mild here for beginning of November. We had quite a lot of rain the past 2 days and we hear the temperature will drop dramatically in the next two weeks. We could be under snow before Christmas..........
Mykologos
MYKOLOGOS is a group site for photos of mushrooms, fungi, molds, lichens, slime molds, bacterial mats, algae - all those non-flowering plants that don`t follow the usual rules. I figure ferns are marginal unless they show their sporangia.
Pyro
PYRO is a community group for photos of fire and burning and campfires and homebrew pyrotechnics. There`s another group for your fireworks photos. Be safe, stay legal, have fun, and share your hot photos!
![Unusual native terrestrial Land Snail (Gastropoda) - This is an unusual native terrestrial [b]Land Snail[/b] ([i]Gastropoda[/i]) in the woods - out of it's shell and moving along! I think this is the first time I've actually seen one, though I often find their pretty shells in winter. It's not that they are rare so much as rarely seen. I guess they are nocturnal. I found this one under a board by the mailbox this morning, after we got a bit of rain from a winter storm last night. (San Marcos Pass, 4 November 2011) This snail has a flat shell that turns clockwise. It is NOT one of the nasty introduced [b]Garden Snails[/b] ([i]Helix aspersa[/i]) that were apparently brought to California over 100 years ago as a food source. Introduced snails have a vertical shell. Fortunately we don't have those snails here in the mountains. I have no idea what species this snail is. A web site I found lists 28 taxa of gastropods known just for Ventura County to the south of us, and there is a list of 279 species in California! Maybe this is genus [i]Helminthoglypta[/i]? The web site is: http://www.magney.org/photofiles/VenturaCountySnails1.htm/VenturaCountySnails1.htm We had some rain last last night and today, and it's turned cold - in the low 40s, and it will probably dip into the 30s tonight. We only got a tenth of an inch or so, but at least it will keep the seedlings alive. - Fotolog](http://sp2.fotolog.com/photo/34/26/39/treebeard/1320462814035_f.jpg)
