Resources

How to Photograph Land Snails for Identification

This is a primer on how to maximize the chance of getting a correct identification on iNaturalist:

(1) For "wider than tall" snails, at least three views are needed: top, bottom, and side (see below). Actually, two separate side views are often better – one with the aperture, any teeth, and clearly showing the profile of the shell to help determine the type of spire - and one more close directly into the aperture showing the nature of any teeth. 

(2) For "taller than wide" snails, a front view of the entire snail with the aperture and a closer view of the aperture (especially if here are teeth in there)  will usually do (see below).

(3) Avoid holding the shell as your fingers can cover things to see - rather, lay the shell in the groove of your touching fingers and position it (see below). Clean out any dirt and debris. 

(4) If the snail is alive, try to gently tease it back in the shell. Even if you can't keep the body in to take a photo, if you can see the character, you can add a description in the notes.

Resources for Land Snails and Slugs

• ​Baker, F.C. 1939. Fieldbook of Illinois Land Snails. Natural History Survey Division, State of Illinois. Urbana, Illinois. (used for comparison of Western and Eastern Whitelips)

• Burch, J.B. 1962. How to Know the Eastern Land Snails. Wm. C. Brown Company Publishers, Dubuque, Iowa. 214 pp. An online pdf is available to see.

• Dourson, D.C. 2010. Kentucky’s Land Snails and their Ecological Communities. Goatslug Publications, Bakersville, NC. 298 pp.

• Dourson, D.C. 2015. Land snails of West Virginia.  Goatslug Publications, Bakersville, NC. 412 pp.

• Hotopp, K.P., T.A. Pearce, J.C. Nekola, J. Slapcinsky, D.C. Dourson, M. Winslow, G. Kimber, and B. Watson. 2013. Land Snails and Slugs of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States. Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh, PA. Online Resource: http://www.carnegiemnh.org/science/mollusks/index.html. (Note: a  very good source for descriptions and images of many snails found in Indiana. Their Pennsylvania and Virginia datasets work pretty well.)

• Hubricht, L. 1958. New species of land snails from the eastern United States. Transactions of the Kentucky Academy of Science, 19(3-4): 70-76. (used for Stenotrema angellum)

• ​​Hubricht, L. 1985. The distributions of the native land mollusks of the eastern United States. Fieldiana: Zoology, New Series, No. 24: 1-191.

• NatureServe. 2020-2021. NatureServe Explorer [web application]. NatureServe, Arlington, Virginia. Available https://explorer.natureserve.org/. (Accessed at various times. A good source for distributions and conservation status.).

• Nekola, J.C. and B.F. Coles. 2010. Pupillid land snails of eastern North America. Bulletin of the American Malacological Society. 28:1-29. (Excellent source for Gastrocopa, Pupillids, and Vertigo.)

• Oesch, R.D., L.E. Watrous, and M. C. Barnhart. 2013. Land Snails and Slugs of Missouri. Missouri Department of Conservation, Jefferson City, Missouri. (The link opens a pdf of the publication. This is a good supplementary source of descriptions and images.)

• Thomas, A.K., R.J. Mc Donnell, T.D. Paine, and J.D. Harwood. 2010. A Field Guide to the Slugs of Kentucky. SR-103. Agricultural Experiment Station, College of Agriculture, Lexington, KY. pp 36. (The link opens a pdf of the publication. This covers invasive species including the slug Deroceras laeve, which is considered both native and exotic to North America, but leaves out the native Philomycids.)

Resources for Aquatic Snails

• ​Burch, J.B. 1982. North American Freshwater Snails. Walkerana. 1(4):217-263.

• Burch, J.B. 1982. Freshwater Snails (Mollusca: Gastropoda) of North America. EPA-600/3-82-026. 294 pp.

• Dillon, R.T., Jr. et al. 2019.  The Freshwater Gastropods of North America. (includes, in the regional section, The Freshwater Gastropods of the Ohio).

• Freshwater Mollusk Conservation Society. Unknown year. Freshwater Snails.

• Johnson, P.D., A.E. Bogan, K.M. Brown, N.M. Burkhead, J.R. Cordeiro, J.T. Garner, P.D. Hartfield, D.A.W. Lepitzki, G.L. Mackie, E.Pip, T.A. Tarpley, J.S. Tiemann, N.V. Whelan & E.E. Strong. 2013. Conservation Status of Freshwater Gastropods of Canada and the United States, Fisheries, 38:6, 247-282, DOI: 10.1080/03632415.2013.785396

• Ohio Division of Wildlife. Freshwater Snails of Ohio Field Guide. 51 pp. (The link opens a pdf of the publication. A very good guide that covers the major groups found in Indiana and many of the species).

• Perez, K. and G. Sandland. Unknown year. Key to Wisconsin Freshwater Snails.

• ​Pyron M., J. Beugly, E. Martin, and M. Spielman. 2008. Conservation of the freshwater gastropods of Indiana: Historic and current distributions. Amer. Malac. Bull. 26: 137-151.