Large glass snail

Aegopis verticillus

Eats: A bit of everything Snails, slugs and wormsForests and woodsNo legsNot an insect, but a bug cousin

The large glass snail is a land snail from Europe. It belongs to a family called the true glass snails. Like other land snails, it breathes air and carries its home on its back.

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

Central and southern Europe, from Italy and the Alps to Serbia

Top speed

about 0.03 km/h (0.02 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 other land snails, it scrapes up its food with a rough tongue covered in tiny teeth.

Photo of Large glass snail — Picture by Robert Nordsieck (RNordsieck). CC BY-SA 2.0 de, via Wikimedia Commons.

How fast is it?

Large glass snail about 0.03 km/h (0.02 mph)

A garden snail about 0.05 km/h (0.03 mph)

A tortoise about 0.3 km/h (0.19 mph)

A person walking about 5 km/h (3.1 mph)

cool stuff

Fun facts

A scientist called Lamarck first described it in 1822.

It is not in danger. Scientists list it as Least Concern, which means there are still plenty of them.

It lives in Bosnia, Montenegro, Serbia, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Italy and the Alps.

People brought it to Germany, and now it lives there too.

you asked

Most asked questions about Large glass snail

?Is the large glass snail endangered?

No. It is listed as Least Concern, so it is not in danger.

?Where does the large glass snail live?

In central and southern Europe, from Italy and the Alps to Serbia and the Czech Republic.

For bug experts

Scientific name: Aegopis verticillus
Named by: Lamarck, 1822
Group: Snails, slugs and worms
Family: Zonitidae
Classification: Gastropoda > Stylommatophora > Zonitidae
Lives on: Europe

Where the facts come from

Aegopis verticillus (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
Picture by Robert Nordsieck (RNordsieck). CC BY-SA 2.0 de, 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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