Critically Endangered
Montserratina becasis
Montserratina becasis
Montserratina becasis is a land snail in the family Canariellidae (order Stylommatophora), recorded as Critically Endangered and tied to France.
Appearance
In 1868, Pierre Rambur gave the following description of Helix becasis: “Very small shell, almost half as large as that of H. Nitida and having the same rounded shape, very thin, transparent, widely inverted, quite depressed, irregularly streaked, pleated above, finely streaked below, bristling with short hairs, quite numerous, of a pale, greenish or slightly reddish tint. Having four turns of whorl or a little more, convex, the last of that grows a little faster than the others, not deviated and barely bent medially anteriorly: fairly deep suture: round opening, having rounded edges, not very close together at their insertion; peristome simple, straight, thin; left edge a little elongated and dilated, barely reflected towards the umbilicus. » “This little Hélice, that one would believe to be, from its appearance, in the group of H. Nitida, must be placed in that of H. Hispida, of that it is probably the smallest species: its opening without rim seems to bring it closer to the Zonites, but the top of the whorl is streaked in the manner of H. Hispida.
Range and habitat
Montserratina becasis is recorded from France.
GBIF currently lists 6 occurrence points. Those points follow where people logged the taxon — museum drawers and surveys included — not a closed range boundary.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Diet
Snails move on a single foot and feed with a rasping tongue. Island and spring species rarely recolonise once the site is emptied.
In crisis
Montserratina becasis is Critically Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.
Sources
Written for this catalog from the French Wikipedia article on Veloutée du Canigou, translated and retold in English, plus Wikidata item Q14644094 and GBIF occurrence geography. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Confirm status and range on iucnredlist.org.
