Helicidae

Helicidae is a large, diverse family of western Palaearctic, medium to large-sized, air-breathing land snails, sometimes called the "typical snails." It includes some of the largest European land snails, several species are common in anthropogenic habitats, and some became invasive on other continents. A number of species in this family are valued as food items, including Cornu aspersum the brown or garden snail, and Helix pomatia. The biologies of these two species in particular have been thoroughly studied and documented.

Helicidae

Ondrej.korabek · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 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
HelicoideaPBDB
Life habit
epifaunalPBDB, for Gastropoda
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Gastropoda
Vision
limitedPBDB, for Gastropoda

Time the record covers

At least 65 million years on record.

The record covers at least 66 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 72.2 Mya to 0 Mya.

Late Cretaceous — about 1 of 185 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 0 of 185 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 17 of 185 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 4 of 185 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 116 of 185 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 6 of 185 occurrencesPleistocene — about 40 of 185 occurrences74–71 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences71–69 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences69–66 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences66–64 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences61–59 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences59–56 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences56–54 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences54–52 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences52–49 Mya — about 1 occurrence49–47 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences47–44 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences44–42 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences42–39 Mya — about 1 occurrence39–37 Mya — about 3 occurrences37–34 Mya — about 7 occurrences34–32 Mya — about 2 occurrences32–29 Mya — about 1 occurrence29–27 Mya — about 1 occurrence27–25 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences25–22 Mya — about 4 occurrences22–20 Mya — about 10 occurrences20–17 Mya — about 9 occurrences17–15 Mya — about 39 occurrences15–12 Mya — about 39 occurrences12–9.8 Mya — about 7 occurrences9.8–7.4 Mya — about 6 occurrences7.4–4.9 Mya — about 3 occurrences4.9–2.5 Mya — about 8 occurrences2.5–0 Mya — about 39 occurrences66 Mya11.7 ka74 Mya0 Mya

185 occurrences of Helicidae 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

185 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

24 formations

Ober Süßwassermolasse — 48.63°N, 11.80°EUpper Freshwater Molasse — 48.15°N, 9.88°EUpper Freshwater Molasse — 48.66°N, 10.23°EUpper Freshwater Molasse — 48.09°N, 10.03°EUpper Freshwater Molasse — 48.63°N, 11.80°EUpper Freshwater Molasse — 48.16°N, 10.11°EBembridge Limestone — 50.67°N, 1.53°WBembridge Limestone — 50.67°N, 1.08°WLower Freshwater Molasse — 46.88°N, 7.11°EKirchberg — 48.47°N, 10.35°EKirchberg — 48.48°N, 10.48°EKirchberg — 48.57°N, 10.42°ERandeck Maar — 48.57°N, 9.53°ECreechbarrow Limestone — 50.65°N, 2.12°WHeadon Beds — 50.72°N, 1.59°WOsborne Beds — 50.71°N, 1.10°WVenta del Moro-Villatoya — 39.48°N, 1.35°WWillwood — 44.78°N, 108.97°WSajovolgyi — 47.97°N, 19.69°ELower Bone Bed — 39.25°N, 8.68°WSanta Maria di Ciciliano — 42.65°N, 12.49°EBrackwater Molasse — 48.35°N, 9.86°EFalun de Saucats — 44.66°N, 0.57°WDegari — 30.08°N, 67.22°ESkalica — 48.48°N, 16.65°EEdelény — 48.39°N, 20.64°EMiocene Lower Continental Complex — 41.44°N, 2.00°EGrimmelfingen — 48.60°N, 10.72°ECorsicana — 30.20°N, 97.61°WBridger — 41.28°N, 110.03°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.74°N, 118.28°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Helicidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 112 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Helicidae and its relatives

Miocene

Where Helicidae and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

1,866 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 110 sites for Helicidae, 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

68 references

Each of the 185 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. 56 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 Helicidae

Credit
Ondrej.korabek
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Helicidae was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were 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 itHelicoidea through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Rafinesque 1815