Milk Snail
Otala lactea
Mollusca
COMMON
Stats
- Lifespan
- 3-7 yrs
- Size
- Large
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Activity
- Nocturnal
- Social
- Solitary
- Biome
- Mediterranean shrubland
- Range
- Mediterranean Basin
- Movement
- Slithering
- Breeding
- Egg-laying
- Defense
- Armor
- Status
- Common
About
The Milk Snail is a Mediterranean land snail recognised by its creamy-white shell banded with brown spiral stripes. When conditions turn hot and dry, it seals the opening of its shell with a papery mucus plug called an epiphragm and enters a months-long dormancy called aestivation.
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
- Otala
- Species
- Otala lactea