Plants and Animals

Glyphyalinia solida Solid glyph

Key Characteristics

Snails of the genus Glyphyalinia are characterized by depressed, small to meduim-sized, thin and translucent white to amber-colored shells. Indented lines radiate outward over the shell and the lip is sharp and thin. The narrow body is tan to black in color, moving with a wave-like motion from the sole.

Status and Rank

US Status: No Status/Not Listed
State Status: SC - Special Concern (rare or uncertain; not legally protected)
Global Rank: G5 - Secure
State Rank: SNR - Not ranked

Occurrences

CountyNumber of OccurrencesYear Last Observed

Information is summarized from MNFI's database of rare species and community occurrences. Data may not reflect true distribution since much of the state has not been thoroughly surveyed.

Habitat

Glyphyalinia solida occurs in the moist leaf litter of wooded areas (Hubricht 1985).

Natural Community Types

For each species, lists of natural communities were derived from review of the nearly 6,500 element occurrences in the MNFI database, in addition to herbarium label data for some taxa. In most cases, at least one specimen record exists for each listed natural community. For certain taxa, especially poorly collected or extirpated species of prairie and savanna habitats, natural community lists were derived from inferences from collection sites and habitat preferences in immediately adjacent states (particularly Indiana and Illinois). Natural communities are not listed for those species documented only from altered or ruderal habitats in Michigan, especially for taxa that occur in a variety of habitats outside of the state.

Natural communities are not listed in order of frequency of occurrence, but are rather derived from the full set of natural communities, organized by Ecological Group. In many cases, the general habitat descriptions should provide greater clarity and direction to the surveyor. In future versions of the Rare Species Explorer, we hope to incorporate natural community fidelity ranks for each taxon.

Management Recommendations

As the majority of land snails are incapable of widely dispersing to search for new suitable habitat, habitat loss, fragmentation and degradation are considered their greatest threats (Kay 1995). Many species depend on moist microhabitats with a rich layer of organic litter and uncompacted soil (Nekola 2003). Increased edge area, forest canopy reductions, and the loss of vegetative ground cover through intensive recreational use may unfavorably alter microhabitat conditions (Applegarth 1999, Gotmark et al. 2008, Walden 1995). Identification of important land snail habitat areas should be a priority, as current information is lacking. Fire has negative impacts on land snail abundance and diversity (Applegarth 1999, Nekola 2002). As large downed logs may provide important refuges during fire and drought, snags should be retained (Applegarth 1999). Snails bioaccumulate chemical pollutants and heavy metals (Berger and Dallinger 1993, Regoli et al. 2006), and high exposure has been found to prevent reproduction and alter feeding behavior (Notten et al. 2006). Herbicides and insecticides should be applied with caution and affected populations monitored to evaluate impacts.

Active Period

Breeding from first week of May to fourth week of June

Survey Methods

As visual detection of small land snails may be difficult, specimens are collected by litter sampling in suitable habitat. Samples are thoroughly heat-dried, soaked in water for a number of hours to separate the various components, and finally passed through a series of sieves. The shells are then able to be hand-picked from the remaining sample material (Nekola 2003).

Litter sampling

Survey Period: From first week of April to first week of October

Time of Day: Daytime

References

Survey References

  • Nekola, J.C. 2003. Large-scale terrestrial gastropod community composition patterns in the Great Lakes region of North America. Diversity and Distributions 9:55-71.

Technical References

  • Applegarth, J.S. 1999. Management recommendations for terrestrial mollusk species, Megophix hemphilli, the Oregon Megomphix. Version 2.0. 39pp.
  • Baker, F.C. 1939. Fieldbook of Illinois Land Snails. Illinois Natural History Survey Manual 2, Urbana, Illinois. 166pp.
  • Berger, B. and R. Dallinger. 1993. Terrestrial snails as quantitative indicators of environmental metal pollution. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 25(1):65-84.
  • Burch, J.B. and Y. Jung. 1988. Land Snails of the University of Michigan Biological Station area. Walkerana 3(9)
  • Gotmark, F., T. Von Proschwitz, and N. Franc. 2008. Are small sedentary species affected by habitat fragmentation? Local vs. landscape factors predicting species richness and composition of land molluscs in Swedish conservation forests. Journal of Biogeography 35: 1062-76.
  • Hubricht, L. 1985. The Distributions of Native Land Mollusks of the Eastern US. Field Museum of Natural History. Fieldiana: Zoology, No. 24.
  • Kay, E.A. 1995. Hug a slug, save a snail: A status report on molluscan diversity and a framework for conservation action. Pp. 53-79. In: E.A. Kay (ed). 1995. The Conservation Biology of Molluscs. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland.
  • Nekola, J.C. 2003. Large-scale terrestrial gastropod community composition patterns in the Great Lakes region of North America. Diversity and Distributions 9:55-71.
  • Notten, M.J.M., A.J.P. Oosthoek, J. Rozema, and R. Aerts. 2006. Heavy metal pollution affects consumption and reproduction of the landsnail Cepaea nemoralis fed on naturally polluted Urtica dioica leaves. Ecotoxicology 15(3):295-304.
  • Regoli, F., S. Gorbi, D. Fattorini, S. Tedesco, A. Notti, N. Machella, R. Bocchetti, M. Benedetti, and F. Piva. 2006. Use of the Land Snail Helix aspersa as Sentinel Organism for Monitoring Ecotoxicologic Effects of Urban Pollution: An Integrated Approach. Environmental Health Perspectives 114(1):63-69.
  • Walden, H.W. 1995. Endangered species of land molluscs in Sweden and Madeira. In: The IUCN Species Survivial Commission, The Conservation Biology of Molluscs:19-24 (E. Alison Kay, Ed.) International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, Gland, Switzerland.