Vertigo milium, common name the blade vertigo, is a species of minute air-breathing land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Vertiginidae, the whorl snails. [1]
| Vertigo milium | |
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| Drawing of a shell of Vertigo milium | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| Subclass: | Heterobranchia |
| Order: | Stylommatophora |
| Family: | Vertiginidae |
| Subfamily: | Vertigininae |
| Genus: | Vertigo |
| Species: | V. milium
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| Binomial name | |
| Vertigo milium (Gould, 1840)
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| Synonyms | |
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The variety Vertigo milium var. antillarum Pilsbry, 1934 is a taxon inquirendum.
Shell description edit
The shell is small, subcylindrical, smooth shining. Growth lines are very fine, a little oblique. Apex is smooth. The color of the shell is dark chest-nut. The shell has 5 rounded whorls, that are somewhat regularly increasing and decreasing to a bluntly rounded apex. Sutures are impressed.[2]
The aperture is obscurely semicircular, lateral and truncated above. The "circumference" of the aperture is "made up of two curves of different radius uniting in the peristome, where the junction causes an angle projecting inwards, the smaller curve comprising about one-fourth part and forming the superior portion of the peristome. The aperture has six teeth as follows: two sharp, projecting teeth of about equal size placed on the parietal wall and dividing that region into three nearly equal parts; one on the columella, large, massive, broad; a third placed on the outer lip above or at the junction of the two radii, long, curved, ridge-like, pointing directly between the two parietal teeth; a fourth on the base of the lip, small, conical, tubercular; and one large, entering, elevated, long lamina, which begins on the base of the lip and curves backward until it disappears behind the columella tooth (this is the "gular lamina" of Sterki). Peristome is white or brownish-white, reflected, the terminations separated, but joined by a prominent callus. The umbilicus is well marked, open, deep. Base of the shell is rounded.[2]
The width of the shell is 0.80–0.90 mm. The height of the shell is 0.90–1.40 mm. The height of aperture is 0.25–0.30 mm.[2]
Anatomy edit
The animal is similar in form to the other species of Vertigo. The color is dirty white, darker on the upper surface. The foot is very broad, posterior of the center, from whence it tapers rapidly to a point. The foot is thick and fleshy and well able to support the light shell. Eye-peduncles are of medium length, somewhat enlarged at the tips, where the eyes are placed.[2]
The jaw is very slightly arcuate, the ends a trifle rounded. Concave margin is notched and anterior surface lightly striated. The jaw is of equal width throughout its length.[2]
The formula of the radula is like this: 2 7 7 + 4⁄2 + 1⁄3 + 4⁄2 + 2 7 7
Teeth are as in the other members of the genus. There are four perfect lateral teeth and the first marginal tooth is similar but with a second outer cusp. From this point the marginals become wider, the inner cusp remains always the larger, and the outer cusp develops from five to seven small cusps or denticles.[2]
Distribution edit
Distribution of Vertigo milium include Illinois,[3] Maine to Minnesota, Ontario and Quebec, Canada, to Florida and Texas,[4] USA.[2]
Habitat edit
Baker (1902)[2] described habitat like this: "Gregarious. Found plentifully under leaves, stones and sticks, in moist situations."
References edit
This article incorporates public domain text from reference.[2]
- ^ MolluscaBase eds. (2023). MolluscaBase. Vertigo milium (A. Gould, 1840). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=1065107 on 2023-02-10
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Baker F. C. (25 April) 1902. The Mollusca of the Chicago Area. Part II. Gastropoda. Bulletin No. III. of the Natural History Survey, The Chicago Academy of Sciences, 418 pp. 33 plates, page 241–242.
- ^ Coppolino M.L. 2009. Land Snails of Southern Illinois. Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Illinois, USA. Last updated 31 January 2009. Accessed 19 July 2009.
- ^ Kathryn E. Perez. (last edited September 12, 2006) Land Snail List for Texas Archived April 30, 2009, at the Wayback Machine. accessed 25 June 2009.
- Gould, A. A. (1840). Monograph of the species of Pupa found in the United States; with figures. Boston Journal of Natural History. 3(3): 395-404, plate 3.
- Thompson, F. G. (2011). An annotated checklist and bibliography of the land and freshwater snails of México and Central America. Florida Museum of Natural History Bulletin. 50(1): 1-299
- Rosenberg, G. & Muratov, I. V. (2006). Status report on the terrestrial Mollusca of Jamaica. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 155: 117-161; Erratum: 156: 401 (2007).
External links edit
- photos of live Vertigo milium
- photo of the shell of Vertigo milium
- photos of shells of Vertigo milium
- Manual of Conchology, volume 25, plate 13, figures 1–7.
- Pilsbry, H. A. (1900). Land snails of Cape May, New Jersey. The Nautilus. 14(7): 73-75
- Pilsbry, H. A. (1911). Land shells of Atlantic City, New Jersey. The Nautilus. 25(3): 34-35
