Brown-lipped Snail
Cepaea nemoralis
Mollusca
COMMON
Stats
- Lifespan
- 7-8 yrs
- Size
- Medium
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Activity
- Nocturnal
- Social
- Solitary
- Biome
- Temperate woodland
- Range
- Europe
- Movement
- Slithering
- Breeding
- Egg-laying
- Defense
- Armor
- Status
- Common
About
The brown-lipped snail is famous for its wildly variable shell — the same species produces yellow, pink, and brown shells with anywhere from zero to five dark spiral bands. This diversity is a textbook case of balanced polymorphism: song thrushes preferentially crack the most common colour morph on local rocks, keeping all variants in circulation.
Life cycle
- 1.juvenileA juvenile mollusk takes adult form after its larval phase and begins building or growing its shell.
- 2.adultFully grown at adult shell size or body length.
Learn more
Taxonomy
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Mollusca
- Class
- Gastropoda
- Order
- Stylommatophora
- Family
- Helicidae
- Genus
- Cepaea
- Species
- Cepaea nemoralis