Cochlicopa lubrica

Cochlicopa (Cochlicopa) lubrica (O. F. Müller, 1774)
Glossy Pillar

  • Helix lubrica O. F. Müller 1774: 104.
  • Zua buddii Dupuy 1849 (1847–1852): 330; nomen nudum.
  • Bulimus lubricoides Stimpson 1851: 54.
  • Additional synonyms and possible synonyms.

Identification. Shell elongate, spindle-shaped. Spire elongate, with sides slightly convex. Apex bluntly rounded. Periphery rounded, medial. Suture shallowly indented, with false suture below. Aperture subovate, edentulous. Adult lip thickened within by an opaque, pink or white callus ridge. Umbilicus none. Protoconch smooth. Teleoconch sculpture very glossy, almost smooth, with faint incremental lines only. Shell translucent, yellowish or reddish brown. Height to 6.5 mm (higher than wide).

Animal grey, but head and tentacles darker grey or almost black.

Cochlicopa lubrica
Cochlicopa lubrica.

Habitat. Both in natural and disturbed habitats. In gardens, waste ground, pastures, and roadsides, as well as openings in forests (rarely in deep woods), dune-habitats, alvars, and arctic tundra. Gregarious, under debris, garbage, leaf litter, wood, concrete, and other debris. In southern Ontario, shells are exceptionally abundant in stream drift.

Global range. Widespread around the Northern Hemisphere.

Canadian range. Known from every province and territory except for Nunavut.

Etymology. Latin: lubricus, slippery.

References

  • Dupuy D (1847–1852) Histoire naturelle des mollusques terrestres et d’eau douce qui vivent en France … Avec planches lithographiées par M. J. Delarue. Auch, Masson, Brun, Paris • [1]: xxxi + 1–108 [1847] • [2]: 108–226 [1848] • [3]: 227–330 [1849] • [4]: 331–458 [1850] • [5]: 459–594 [1851] • [6]: 595–737 + 1 foldout + 31 pls [1852].
  • Müller OF (1774) Vermium terrestrium et fluviatilium, seu animalium Infusorium, Helminthicorum, et Testaceorum, non marinorum, succincta historia. Volumen alterum: Testacea. Heineck & Faber, Havniæ & Lipsia, xxxvi + 214 + [x] pp.
  • Stimpson W (1851) Shells of New England; a revision of the synonymy of the testaceous mollusks of New England, with notes on their structure and their geographical and bathymetrical distribution, with figures of new species. Phillips, Sampson & Co., Boston, 56 + [2] pp.; 2 pls.