page_title: Eobania vermiculata
section_title: Ecology
hierarchical_section_title: Eobania vermiculata / Ecology
caption_attribution_description: English: Drawing of love dart of Eobania vermiculata. Cross-section (on the left) and lateral view (on the right)
context_page_description: Eobania vermiculata also known as Helix vermiculata, common name the "chocolate-band snail" is a species of large, air-breathing, land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Helicidae, the true snails or typical snails.
  Eobania vermiculata is the type species of the genus Eobania.
context_section_description: Eobania vermiculata live in a broad variety of habitats, usually in dry vegetation, mainly in coastal vicinity, also in agricultural crops. It is very common in Crete, the species lives on practically every small island in the south Aegean.
  In northern Greece copulation takes place after the first rainfalls in autumn. These snails create and use love darts as part of their mating behavior. Around 70 eggs per snail are laid 20 days later. The size of the egg is 4.1 × 3 mm. Juveniles hatch shortly after and grow about 12–13 mm in diameter per year for 2 years (growth is usually restricted to February to June in northern Greece, in Crete this period ends already in May). Maturity is reached after 2 years when the diameter reaches 25 mm, the umbilicus becomes closed and the apertural margin becomes reflected. Snails reach 29–30 mm diameter in May/June of the second year in northern Greece (in April in Crete), reaching a maximum diameter (33 mm) may take 5 years or more, but mortality increases greatly after 2 years.
  About 20% of the snails in a population survive to lay eggs in the 3rd year, 5% of the snails lay eggs again in the 4th year. The mortality rates decrease with age. The animals hibernate (in northern Greece) or aestivate (in Crete), but juveniles and adults show differences in their behaviour. Adults dig into the soil and build an epiphragm, while juveniles search protected places under stones or leaves of low plants.
caption: Drawing of love dart of Eobania vermiculata. Cross-section (on the left) and lateral view (on the right).
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