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Gulf Coast lip tooth
Gulf Coast lip tooth (Daedalochila leporine)
Illinois Status: common, native
Photo © Marla Coppolino
FEATURES
The Gulf Coast lip tooth has a translucent, glossy, shell with growth lines that reaches about one inch across. The shell height and width are nearly equal, and the shell doesn’t have a lip on the opening. The whorls are narrow and tightly coiled, increasing very slowly with size.
BEHAVIORS
The Gulf Coast lip tooth lives up for six years and becomes sexually mature at age two or three. They are hermaphrodites and probably mate in early spring to mid-summer. Species that are hermaphrodites have both male and female parts, and can self-reproduce. They lay eggs in woody debris protected from the sun and young snails hatch about a month later. This snail can be found near the Ohio River and the Mississippi River near or within the Shawnee National Forest.
Illinois Range
Taxonomy
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Order: Stylommatophora
Family: Polygyridae
Habitats
Aquatic Habitats
rivers and streams
