Decollate Snail

Description:

This snail loses its apex, resulting in a broken look. This also affects the overall height of the shell. The shell is usually brown or tan, and the body is gray.

Habitat:

I cleaned up a drift of leaves and uncovered this snail. I also uncovered a lot of milk snails which this one may have been stalking.

Notes:

This species is carnivorous and eats other snails. It has been used to control populations of the destructive Helix aspersa, which devastates citrus crops in California. R. decollata has been naturalized to Texas. It has been bred here especially to serve as a predator to pest species. The effort has been very successful.