Details
Helix pomatia
Roman snail is a large European land snail of calcareous grassland and woodland edges, also used as food. Harvest, pesticides, and drying habitats make it protected or monitored in some regions.
Map: Ecoregions 2017 © RESOLVE (CC BY 4.0) · Natural Earth (PD)
It lives in calcareous grassland, scrub, woodland edges, and gardens across Europe. Main habitat types in this guide are forest, grassland, urban.
Typical length 3-5 cm, weight 5 g-20 g. A rounded thick shell with pale brown banding and a broad creeping foot are characteristic.
It is nocturnal and usually solitary. It seals the shell in dry weather and becomes active after rain or at night.
It is herbivorous. Soft leaves, dead plant matter, and algae are rasped from surfaces.
As a hermaphrodite, it mates and then lays eggs in the soil.
Although still widespread in places, it remains sensitive to habitat change. Harvest, pesticides, and drying habitats make it protected or monitored in some regions.
