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Sticker of Moss chrysalis-snail
Bug card No. 2912 of 4,939

Moss chrysalis-snail

Pupilla muscorum
Eats: PlantsSnails, slugs and wormsGardens and meadowsNo legsNot an insect, but a bug cousin

The moss chrysalis-snail is a tiny land snail with a tall, narrow shell. The shell is light brown and only a few millimetres high. It likes dry, sunny meadows, sand dunes and short grass.

Fun fact: this one is not an insect at all, it has no legs! But kids find it on every bug hunt, so it lives in Bug Wiki too.
Lives in
Almost all of Europe, and also parts of Asia and North America, in dry sunny grassland
Length
1.6 to 1.8 mm (0.06 to 0.07 in)
the width of the shell
Top speed
about 0.01 km/h (0.01 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. Wash your hands after touching snails, like after touching any wild animal.
What does it eat?
Like other tiny land snails, it nibbles little bits of plants it finds near the ground.
For real!Photo of Moss chrysalis-snail
Picture by Michal Maňas. CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Moss chrysalis-snail about 1.8 mm long (0.07 in)A grain of rice about 6 mm (0.24 in)
3 of them in a row are as long as one grain of riceneeds 6 minutes to cross a dinner table

How big is Moss chrysalis-snail compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

Its shell is only 3 to 4 millimetres tall, so you need sharp eyes to spot it.

2

It can keep its eggs inside its body through the winter and let them out when the weather gets better, with the babies already partly grown.

3

Moss chrysalis-snails living today look almost exactly like their ancestors from long ago.

4

It loves chalky ground, and in Britain it is often found in grassy fields where sheep graze.

5

In the Alps it can live as high as 2,400 metres up.

you asked

Most asked questions about Moss chrysalis-snail

?How big is the moss chrysalis-snail?

Its shell is only 3 to 4 millimetres tall and less than 2 millimetres wide.

?Where does the moss chrysalis-snail live?

In dry, sunny meadows, dunes and grassland across Europe, and in parts of Asia and North America.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Pupilla muscorum
Named by
Linnaeus, 1758
Group
Snails, slugs and worms
Family
Pupillidae
Classification
Gastropoda > Stylommatophora > Pupillidae
Lives on
Europe, Asia, North America
Also known as
Widespread column

Where the facts come from

  1. Pupilla muscorum (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Michal Maňas. CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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