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Sticker of Hairy snail
Bug card No. 0706 of 1,500

Hairy snail

Trochulus hispidus
Eats: PlantsSnails, slugs and wormsGardens and meadowsNo legsNot an insect, but a bug cousin

The hairy snail is a small land snail with a hairy shell. Its brown or cream shell is covered with tiny curved hairs, like a fuzzy little hat. You need to look very closely to see them.

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
Many countries of Europe, from Britain and Spain to Estonia and Finland
Length
0.5 to 1.1 cm (0.2 to 0.43 in)
the width of the shell
Top speed
about 0.02 km/h (0.01 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. Wash your hands after holding one, like after touching any wild animal.
What does it eat?
Like most land snails, it nibbles on plants and scrapes its food with a rough tongue.
For real!Photo of Hairy snail
Picture by Michal Maลˆas. CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Hairy snail about 1.1 cm long (0.43 in)A grain of rice about 6 mm (0.24 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)
as long as 2 grains of rice in a rowneeds 3 minutes to cross a dinner table

How big is Hairy snail compared to YOU?

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

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

The hairs on its shell are only about a quarter of a millimetre long.

2

When the hairs wear off, they leave little scars behind on the shell.

3

Its eggs are only about 1.5 millimetres big.

4

Once a hairy snail was found riding in the feathers of a great tit. It is the smallest bird ever seen carrying a snail.

5

Its shell has five or six turns, and the opening has a thin white lip inside.

you asked

Most asked questions about Hairy snail

?Why does the hairy snail have hair?

Its shell is covered in tiny curved hairs. Scientists are still curious exactly what they are good for.

?How big is the hairy snail?

Its shell is only about 5 to 11 millimetres wide, smaller than a fingernail.

?Is the hairy snail dangerous?

No, it is completely harmless.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Trochulus hispidus
Named by
Linnaeus, 1758
Group
Snails, slugs and worms
Family
Hygromiidae
Classification
Gastropoda > Stylommatophora > Hygromiidae
Lives on
Europe

Where the facts come from

  1. Trochulus hispidus (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 Maลˆas. CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same 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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