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bottleneck snaggletooth
bottleneck snaggletooth (Gastrocopta contracta)
Illinois Status: common, native
Photo © Marla Coppolino
Features and Behaviors
FEATURES
Gastrocopta contracta, the bottleneck snaggletooth, has a small, waxy-white shell with five whorls and deep sutures. They have a triangular aperture that is nearly filled by tooth-like projections called folds. The body of the animal is rounded in front and tapered behind, the eye stalks are long, and the tentacles short and thick. G. contracta is about one-sixteenth of an inch wide, one-eighth of an inch tall, and is differentiated from other species in the genus by the shape and proportions of their shells.
BEHAVIORS
The bottleneck snaggletooth is fairly common in all of Illinois. They can be found in a variety of habitats: open fields, wooded floodplains, bluffs of limestone, and in forests of sycamore, oak, and elm. This species is an omnivore but prefers to feed on live vegetation, and can be found year-round under bark and in leaf litter.
Illinois Range
Taxonomy
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Order: Stylommatophora
Family: Gastrocoptidae
Habitats
open fields, wooded floodplains, bluffs of limestone, and in forests of sycamore, oak, and elm
