Helix pomatia, known as the Roman snail, Burgundy snail, or escargot, is a species of large, air-breathing land Snails native to Europe. It is characterized by a globular brown shell. It is an edible species which commonly occurs Synanthrope throughout its range.
Distribution
The present distribution of
Helix pomatia is considerably affected by the dispersion by
human and synanthropic occurrences. The northern limits of their natural distribution run presumably through central
Germany and southern
Poland with the eastern range limits running through western-most
Ukraine and
Moldova/
Romania to
Bulgaria. In the south, the species reaches northern Bulgaria, central
Serbia, Bosnia and Hezegovina and
Croatia. It occurs in northern
Italy southwards to the Po and the Ligurian Apennines. Westerly the native range extends to eastern
France.
Currently,
H. pomatia is distributed up to western Russia (broadly distributed in and around
Moscow),
to the south of
Finland,
Sweden and
Norway, in
Denmark and the
Benelux. Scattered introduced populations occur westwards up to northern
Spain. In
Great Britain, it lives on
chalk soils in the south and west of
England. In the east, isolated populations live as far as south of Novosibirsk.
Introduced populations also exist in the eastern
United States and
Canada.
Description
of
Helix pomatia]]The
gastropod shell is creamy white to light brownish, often with indistinct brown colour bands although sometimes the banding is well developed and conspicuous. The shell has five to six whorls. The aperture is large. The apertural margin is slightly reflected in adult snails. The umbilicus is narrow and partly covered by the reflected columellar margin.
The width of the shell is .
Ecology
Habitat
In Central Europe, it occurs in forests and shrubland, as well as in various synanthropic habitats. It lives up to above sea level in the Alps, but usually below .
In the south of England, it is restricted to undisturbed grassy or bushy wastelands, usually not in gardens.
Lifecycle
snail is
hermaphrodite. Reproduction in Central Europe begins at the end of May.
File:Helix pomatia reproductive system.jpg|Reproductive system of H. pomatia
File:Weinbergschnecke Paarung.jpg|A pair of H. pomatia in courtship, shortly before mating
File:Helix pomatia head mating.jpg|Drawing of head of mating H. pomatia with everted penis and dart sac shooting a love dart
File:Helix pomatia laying eggs 2.png|Drawing of H. pomatia laying eggs
Eggs are laid in June and July, in clutches of 40–65 eggs.[Heller J.: Life History Strategies. in Barker G. M. (ed.): The biology of terrestrial molluscs. CABI Publishing, Oxon, UK, 2001, . 1–146, cited page: 428.] Juveniles hatch after three to four weeks, and may consume their siblings under unfavourable climate conditions.
During estivation or hibernation, H. pomatia is one of the few species that is capable of creating a calcareous epiphragm to seal the opening of its shell.
File:Helix pomatia hibernation.png|Drawing of H. pomatia during hibernation
File:Helix pomatia operculum hg.jpg|Photo of the shell with an epiphragm
File:Helix pomatia - epiphragma.jpg|Epiphragm of H. pomatia
Preference for feeding on the nettle Urtica dioica was found in H. pomatia juveniles in Germany.
Conservation
This species is listed in IUCN Red List, and in European Red List of Non-marine Molluscs as of least concern.
Within its native range, Helix pomatia is mostly a common species. It is also considered Least Concern by the IUCN Red List.[ However, it is listed in the Annex V of the European Union's Habitats Directive and protected by law in several countries to regulate harvesting from free living populations.
]
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Germany: listed as a specially protected species in annex 1 of the Bundesartenschutzverordnung.
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Austria: the protection is up to Bundesländer,
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Great Britain: protected in England under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, making it illegal to kill, injure, collect or sell these snails.
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France: collecting prohibited of individuals with shell diameter under 3 cm and during the period from 1 April to 30 June.
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Denmark: commercial collecting is prohibited.
Uses
The intestinal juice of H. pomatia contains large amounts of aryl, steroid, and glucosinolate sulfatase activities. These sulfatases have a broad specificity, so they are commonly used as a hydrolyzing agent in analytical procedures such as chromatography where they are used to prepare samples for analysis.
Culinary use and history
Roman snails were eaten by Ancient Romans.
Nowadays, these snails are especially popular in French cuisine. In the English language, it is called by the French name escargot when used in cooking ( escargot simply means snail).
Although this species is highly prized as a food, it is difficult to cultivate and is rarely farmed commercially.
This article incorporates public domain text from the reference.[ "Species summary for Helix pomatia". AnimalBase, last modified 5 March 2009, accessed 6 September 2010.]
Further reading
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Egorov R. (2015). " Helix pomatia Linnaeus, 1758: the history of its introduction and recent distribution in European Russia". Malacologica Bohemoslovaca 14: 91–101. PDF
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Roumyantseva E. G. & Dedkov V. P. (2006). "Reproductive properties of the Roman snail Helix pomatia L. in the Kaliningrad Region, Russia". Ruthenica 15: 131–138. abstract
External links
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Linnaeus, C. (1758). Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Editio decima, reformata [10th revised edition], vol. 1: 824 pp. Laurentius Salvius: Holmiae
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Korábek, O., Juřičková, L. & Petrusek, A. (2015). Splitting the Roman snail Helix pomatia Linnaeus, 1758 (Stylommatophora: Helicidae) into two: redescription of the forgotten Helix thessalica Boettger, 1886. Journal of Molluscan Studies 82: 11–22
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Animal Diversity Web page
