Wisconsin's Threatened & Endangered Snails

[AJE]

WDNR-Endangered

Snails are gastropods, a class that also includes slugs and limpets. The 3 listed snails in Wisconsin are all land based snails. The oldest living branches of gastropods contain animals breathing with a gill, and most inhabit fresh or salt water with very few members on land. Land snails may be found in many habitats but usually prefer sites with shelter, moisture, food, and an available source of lime. Forested river valleys and sites with limestone outcrops support the most varied snail faunas.

Land snails are active on humid nights and may come out following a rain when the atmosphere is cool and damp. At the present time, the glacially adapted animals survive along the northern coasts of Lakes Michigan and Huron where habitats that mimic the environmental conditions of the Ice Age are maintained by low summer temperatures near the cold lake water. Protection of the endangered and threatened land snails in Wisconsin requires preservation of the habitat and protection of those unique sites from human disturbance. Wisconsin currently has three species of endangered or threatened snails.

Cherrystone Drop (Hendersonia occulta) THREATENED
Midwest Pleistocene Vertigo (Vertigo hubrichti) THREATENED
Wing Snaggletooth (Gastrocopta procera) THREATENED

[AJE]

Did You Know: A snail can sleep for 3 years.