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Sticker of Black gloss snail
Bug card No. 0406 of 4,939

Black gloss snail

Zonitoides nitidus
Eats: A bit of everythingSnails, slugs and wormsPonds, rivers and shoresNo legsNot an insect, but a bug cousin

The black gloss snail is a tiny snail with a shiny reddish brown shell. Its body is black, with a little orange dash you can see near the shell opening. It likes wet places close to water.

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
Most of Europe, northern Asia and Canada, in wet meadows and swamps near water
Length
6 to 7 mm (0.24 to 0.28 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?
It eats rotting leaves, mushrooms, roots and fruit. In summer it also hunts other small snails and tiny clams.
For real!Photo of Black gloss snail
Picture by H. Zell. CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Black gloss snail about 7 mm long (0.28 in)A grain of rice about 6 mm (0.24 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)
small enough to sit on your fingernailneeds 6 minutes to cross a dinner table

How big is Black gloss 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 wider than it is tall, a bit like a tiny flat button.

2

When it eats soft food like a mushroom or a ripe fruit, it can burrow all the way inside, shell and all.

3

Baby snails are whitish grey with see-through light brown shells.

4

It is fully grown after a little more than a year.

you asked

Most asked questions about Black gloss snail

?How big is the black gloss snail?

Its shell is only 6 to 7 millimetres wide, about the size of a lentil.

?What does the black gloss snail eat?

Mostly soft, rotting plant bits, mushrooms and fruit, and in summer even other little snails.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Zonitoides nitidus
Group
Snails, slugs and worms
Family
Gastrodontidae
Classification
Gastropoda > Stylommatophora > Gastrodontidae
Lives on
Europe, Asia, North America
Also known as
Shiny glass snail, Black gloss

Where the facts come from

  1. Zonitoides nitidus (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 H. Zell. CC BY-SA 3.0, 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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Honey jarfor grown-ups