Cepaea

Cepaea is a genus of large air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs in the family Helicidae. The shells are often brightly coloured and patterned with brown stripes. The two living species in this genus, C. nemoralis and C. hortensis, are widespread and common in Western and Central Europe. In North America, C. hortensis is native on the northeast coast, but both species have been introduced elsewhere, and they are also spreading further east in Europe. Both have been influential model species for ongoing studies of genetics and natural selection. Like many Helicidae, these snails use love darts during mating.

Cepaea

sarefo · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
HelicidaePBDB
Life habit
epifaunalPBDB, for Gastropoda
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Gastropoda
Vision
limitedPBDB, for Gastropoda

Time the record covers

At least 23 million years on record.

The record covers at least 23.04 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 27.3 Mya to 0 Mya.

Oligocene — about 1 of 41 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 35 of 41 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 0 of 41 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 4 of 41 occurrencesPleistocene28–27 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences27–26 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences19–19 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 2 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 9 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 9 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 4 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 3 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 2 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences10–9.3 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences9.3–8.4 Mya — about 1 occurrence8.4–7.4 Mya — about 1 occurrence7.4–6.5 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences6.5–5.6 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences5.6–4.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences928 ka–0 Mya — about 5 occurrences23.04 Mya11.7 ka27.8 Mya0 Mya

41 occurrences of Cepaea on record, most of them in the Miocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

41 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

7 formations

Ober Süßwassermolasse — 48.63°N, 11.80°ESajovolgyi — 47.97°N, 19.69°EUpper Freshwater Molasse — 48.63°N, 11.80°EVenta del Moro-Villatoya — 39.48°N, 1.35°WBrackwater Molasse — 48.35°N, 9.86°EFalun de Saucats — 44.66°N, 0.57°WSkalica — 48.48°N, 16.65°E

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The named rock units Cepaea has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 22 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Cepaea and its relatives

Miocene

Where Cepaea and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

673 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 31 sites for Cepaea, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

17 references

Each of the 41 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 5 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Cepaea

Credit
sarefo
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Cepaea was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itHelicidae through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Held 1838