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Sticker of Phoenix talussnail
Bug card No. 3319 of 4,939

Phoenix talussnail

Sonorella allynsmithi
Eats: PlantsSnails, slugs and wormsDeserts and dry placesNo legsNot an insect, but a bug cousin

The Phoenix talussnail is a land snail from the hot, rocky mountains around Phoenix in Arizona. It has a shiny, round, greyish to brownish white shell. Its body is dark grey to black with little copper-coloured flecks.

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
Only Arizona in the United States, on rocky mountain slopes around Phoenix
Length
1.9 cm (0.75 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?
It eats bits of plants and fungi in the soil.
For real!Photo of Phoenix talussnail
Picture by Nick D. Waters. CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Phoenix talussnail about 1.9 cm long (0.75 in)A grain of rice about 6 mm (0.24 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)
as long as 3 grains of rice in a rowneeds 3 minutes to cross a dinner table

How big is Phoenix talussnail compared to YOU?

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

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

Its name comes from talus, the piles of loose rocks on mountain slopes where it hides.

2

When the weather gets dry, it glues the opening of its shell to a rock so it does not dry out.

3

It likes rocks full of lime, because it uses lime to build its shell.

4

Its eggs have tiny crystals in them, and sometimes the crystals make a little shell around the egg.

5

It can wait to lay its eggs until it rains.

you asked

Most asked questions about Phoenix talussnail

?How big is the Phoenix talussnail?

Its shell is up to about 1.9 centimetres wide.

?How does the Phoenix talussnail survive in the desert?

It hides among rocks and, when it is dry, seals its shell to a rock so it does not dry out.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Sonorella allynsmithi
Group
Snails, slugs and worms
Family
Helminthoglyptidae
Classification
Gastropoda > Stylommatophora > Helminthoglyptidae
Lives on
North America

Where the facts come from

  1. Maricopella (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 Nick D. Waters. CC BY-SA 2.5, 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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Also at home here: Deserts and dry places

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Honey jarfor grown-ups