Glyphyalinia (Glyphyalinia) indentata (Say, 1823)
Carved Glyph

• Helix indentata Say 1822: 372.

Identification. Shell small, subdiscoidal, thin. Spire low, domed. Whorls ca 4. Width of last whorl (from above) ca 2× width of penultimate whorl. Periphery rounded, medial. Teleoconch with distant, subregularly spaced colabral indented lines and traces of weak, minute striae. Aperture broadly lunate, without teeth. Lip thin, simple. Umbilicus region indented; umbilicus tiny, perforate, ca 1/20 of shell width, partially overhung by reflected columellar lip. Shell glossy, translucent, pale yellowish.

This species is recognized without difficulty from G. rhoadsi and all other similarly flattened, translucent snails in Canada in having the proportionately tiny umbilicus.

Habitat. In rocky and sandy forests, and sandy savannahs; dune woods along the Great Lakes shore.

Canadian range. Southern Ontario and southwestern Quebec.

Etymology. Latin, indentatus, “indented”, a reference to the tiny umbilicus.

Remarks. Although Hubricht (1985) believed that G. indentata is a complex of species that are anatomically distinct but with little or no differing shell characters, nothing has been published to confirm this opinion. In the literature, two subspecies are occasionally used. Southwest USA and Baja California, Mexico, populations have been classified as G. indentata paucilirata (Morelet, 1851). However, as G. indentata was originally described from material collected in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, it is likely that Canadian and other northern populations belong to G. indentata indentata, if subspecies are warranted.