Punctum minutissimum

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Punctum minutissimum
Punctum minutissimum.png
video of Punctum minutissimum
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Order: Stylommatophora
Family: Punctidae
Genus: Punctum
Species:
P. minutissimum
Binomial name
Punctum minutissimum
(I. Lea, 1841)

Punctum minutissimum is a species of small air-breathing land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Punctidae, the dot snails.

Contents

Shell description

The shell of Punctum minutissimum is slightly translucent and pale brown in color. It is 1.1 to 1.3 mm wide, and has 3.5 to 4.5 whorls. The outer shell surface has a sculpture of radial striae, which are obvious under magnification. The underside of the shell has a very wide umbilicus, almost 25% of the shell's width. [1]

apical view Minutissimum top.jpg
apical view
apertural view. Minutissimum front 1.jpg
apertural view.
umbilical view Minutissimum bottom1.JPG
umbilical view

Distribution

This species occurs in North America, from Maine to Florida, and west to Oregon and New Mexico. [2]

Habitat

This small snail lives in damp leaf litter and decaying fallen beech logs. It is often found around polypore and bolete fungi. [3]

References

  1. Burch J. B. (1962). How to Know the Eastern Land Snails. WM. C Brown Co., Dubuque, IA.
  2. Burch J. B. & Jung Y. (1988). "Land Snails of the University of Michigan Biological Station Area". Society for Experimental and Descriptive Malacology, Walkerana9.
  3. Pilsbry H. A. (1948). Land Mollusca of North America (North of Mexico). The Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, Monographs, 3, vol. 2 part 2: 521-1113.