This list comprises 220 species of non-marine molluscs that have been recorded in the scientific literature as part of the fauna of the island of Great Britain. These are terrestrial and aquatic gastropods, and aquatic bivalves; the list does not include species of molluscs which are considered to be fully marine, except for two marine pulmonate gastropods.
In other words: this list includes land snails and slugs, and freshwater and brackish water snails. It also includes freshwater mussels and clams, including some that can tolerate brackish water. Molluscs that are fully adapted to live in the sea are not included here, except for two species that are air-breathing and thus are more closely related to most land and freshwater snails than they are to the majority of sea snails.
Great Britain is a European island in the northeastern Atlantic, comprising the contiguous countries of England, Scotland and Wales. (Great Britain is not the same entity as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, for more information on the complex nomenclature of this area, please see terminology of the British Isles.)
The mollusc fauna of the island of Ireland, which includes both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, is listed in another article: List of non-marine molluscs of Ireland.
A number of species of snails listed here are semi-terrestrial and so are sometimes also found on lists of marine species. Two listed here, in the genera Onchidella and Otina, are fully marine in habitat, but are pulmonate snails which breathe air at low tide rather than having gills like most marine species. Other species listed here live in habitats that are intermediate between land and saltwater, or in brackish water habitats intermediate between freshwater and full-salinity saltwater.
Additional species are still being added to the list of the non-marine malacofauna of Great Britain. Three of the more recent discoveries are Papillifera bidens first found in 1993, Selenochlamys ysbryda a species which appeared to be new to science and which was first found in 2005, and Eobania vermiculata first found in 2006 and possibly not really established at that point. A major revision of the slug fauna published in 2014, partly based on genetic sequencing, established that there were 20% more species than had previously been recognised. Not all these species have been definitely identified and some are formally undescribed.
In addition to the species that survive outdoors in Great Britain, there are also another 14 exotic gastropod species (some terrestrial and some aquatic) which live as "uninvited guests" in greenhouses and their enclosed aquaria. These species are known as "hothouse aliens", and are listed separately at the end of the main list. In this list these species are not counted as part of the fauna.
The following table shows a summary of species numbers.
Those species that are recognized as endangered are shown with an E after their name, see List of endangered species in the British Isles.
Some species are protected in the United Kingdom under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981:
Catinella arenaria and Myxas glutinosa are fully protected since 1981
Margaritifera margaritifera is partly protected since 1991 and fully protected since 1998
Helix pomatia is partly protected since 2008
Monacha cartusiana was fully protected from 1981 to 1988.
Two of the land snails on the list (Fruticicola fruticum and Cernuella neglecta) are now locally extinct (in Great Britain, sometimes abbreviated here as G.B.), but they still occur in other parts of Europe.
The list is arranged by presumed biological affinity, rather than being alphabetical by family.
A number of species are listed with subspecies, in cases where there are well-recognized subspecies in different parts of Europe. For some species a synonym is given, where the species may perhaps be better known under another name.
An attempt has been made to label the families as aquatic, terrestrial or intermediate, and an indication is given where it is thought that the species is introduced. Some introductions to Great Britain are quite ancient, dating from Roman times or even earlier, for example, Paleolithic. Those species that do not have a shell usually do not leave an archeological or fossil record, and therefore it is not always possible to determine whether they are native or introduced. Species are considered to be native, unless otherwise indicated on the list; this information is taken from Kerney, 1999, updated in the case of slugs with the opinions of Rowson et al. 2014.
Note: the images used to illustrate the list are mostly of specimens that were found in other countries.
Neritidae - aquatic (this species tolerates brackish water)
Theodoxus fluviatilis fluviatilis (Linnaeus, 1758)
Aciculidae - terrestrial
Acicula fusca (Montagu, 1803)
Viviparidae - aquatic
Viviparus contectus (Millet, 1813)
Viviparus viviparus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Assimineidae - terrestrial (intermediate marine)
Assiminea grayana Fleming, 1828 - native?
Paludinella littorina (delle Chiaje, 1828)
Amnicolidae - aquatic
Marstoniopsis insubrica (Küster, 1853) - synonym: Marstoniopsis scholtzi (A. Schmidt, 1856) - native?
Truncatellidae - terrestrial (intermediate marine)
Truncatella subcylindrica (Linnaeus, 1758)
Bithyniidae - aquatic
Bithynia leachii (Sheppard, 1823)
Bithynia tentaculata (Linnaeus, 1758)
Cochliopidae - aquatic
Heleobia stagnorum (Gmelin, 1791) - native?
Hydrobiidae - aquatic (some are arguably marine)
Hydrobia acuta (Draparnaud, 1805) - subspecies: Hydrobia acuta neglecta Muus, 1963
Hydrobia ventrosa (Montagu, 1803)
Peringia ulvae (Pennant, 1777)
Mercuria c.f. similis (Draparnaud, 1805) = Mercuria confusa (Frauenfeld, 1863)
Potamopyrgus antipodarum (Gray, 1843) - introduced
Valvatidae - aquatic
Valvata cristata O. F. Müller, 1774
Valvata macrostoma Mörch, 1864
Valvata piscinalis (O. F. Müller, 1774)
Pomatiidae - terrestrial
Pomatias elegans (Müller, 1774)
The following gastropods are pulmonates:
Ellobiidae - terrestrial
Carychium minimum Müller, 1774
Carychium tridentatum (Risso, 1826)
Leucophytia bidentata (Montagu, 1808)
Myosotella denticulata (Montagu, 1803)
Myosotella myosotis (Draparnaud, 1801)
Onchidiidae - aquatic (marine but an intertidal pulmonate)
Onchidella celtica (Cuvier, 1817)
Otinidae - aquatic (marine but an intertidal pulmonate)
Otina ovata (Brown, 1827)
Physidae - aquatic
Aplexa hypnorum (Linnaeus, 1758)
Physa fontinalis (Linnaeus, 1758)
Physella acuta (Draparnaud, 1805) = Physella heterostropha (Say, 1817) - introduced
Physella gyrina (Say, 1821) - introduced
Lymnaeidae - aquatic
Galba truncatula (O. F. Müller, 1774)
Omphiscola glabra (O. F. Müller, 1774)
Lymnaea palustris (O. F. Müller, 1774) = Stagnicola palustris (O. F. Müller, 1774)
Lymnaea stagnalis (Linnaeus, 1758)
Lymnaea fusca (C. Pfeiffer, 1821)
Radix auricularia (Linnaeus, 1758)
Radix balthica (Linnaeus, 1758)
Radix peregra (Linnaeus, 1758)
Myxas glutinosa (O. F. Müller, 1774) E
Planorbidae - aquatic
Ancylus fluviatilis O. F. Müller, 1774
Anisus leucostoma (Millet, 1813)
Anisus vortex (Linnaeus, 1758)
Anisus vorticulus (Troschel, 1834) E
Anisus spirorbis (Linnaeus, 1758)
Planorbis carinatus O. F. Müller, 1774
Planorbis planorbis (Linnaeus, 1758)
Bathyomphalus contortus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Gyraulus laevis (Alder, 1838)
Gyraulus acronicus (A. Férussac, 1807)
Gyraulus albus (O. F. Müller, 1774)
Gyraulus crista (Linnaeus, 1758)
Hippeutis complanatus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Segmentina nitida (O. F. Müller, 1774) E
Planorbarius corneus corneus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Menetus dilatatus (Gould, 1841) - introduced
Ferrissia wautieri (Mirolli, 1960) = Ferrissia fragilis (Tryon, 1863) - introduced
Acroloxidae - aquatic
Acroloxus lacustris (Linnaeus, 1758)
Succineidae - terrestrial (some almost amphibious)
Quikella arenaria (Bouchard-Chantereaux, 1837) = Catinella arenaria
Succinella oblonga Draparnaud, 1801
Succinea putris Linnaeus, 1758
Oxyloma elegans elegans (Risso, 1826) = Oxyloma pfeifferi (Rossmässler, 1835)
Oxyloma sarsii (Esmark, 1886)
Cochlicopidae - terrestrial
Azeca goodalli (A. Férrusac, 1821)
Cochlicopa c.f. lubrica = Cochlicopa lubrica (O. F. Müller, 1774)
Cochlicopa c.f. lubricella = Cochlicopa lubricella (Porro, 1838)
Pyramidulidae - terrestrial
Pyramidula umbilicata (Montagu, 1803)
Vertiginidae - terrestrial
Columella edentula Draparnaud, 1805)
Columella aspera Walden, 1966
Truncatellina cylindrica (Férussac, 1807)
Truncatellina callicratis (Scacchi, 1833)
Vertigo pusilla O. F. Müller, 1774
Vertigo alpestris Alder, 1838
Vertigo antivertigo (Draparnaud, 1801)
Vertigo genesii (Gredler, 1856)
Vertigo geyeri Lindholm, 1925
Vertigo lilljeborgi (Westerlund, 1871)
Vertigo modesta arctica (Say, 1824)
Vertigo moulinsiana (Dupuy, 1849)
Vertigo pusilla O. F. Müller, 1774
Vertigo pygmaea (Draparnaud, 1801)
Vertigo substriata (Jeffreys, 1833)
Vertigo angustior Jeffreys, 1830
Chondrinidae - terrestrial
Abida secale secale (Draparnaud, 1801)
Pupillidae - terrestrial
Pupilla muscorum (Linnaeus, 1758)
Pupilla pratensis (Clessin, 1871)
Lauriidae - terrestrial
Leiostyla anglica (Wood, 1828)
Lauria cylindracea (da Costa, 1778)
Lauria sempronii (Charpentier, 1837)
Valloniidae - terrestrial
Vallonia costata (O. F. Müller, 1774)
Vallonia pulchella (O. F. Müller, 1774)
Vallonia c.f. excentrica = Vallonia excentrica Sterke, 1892
Acanthinula aculeata (O. F. Müller, 1774)
Spermodea lamellata (Jeffreys, 1830)
Enidae - terrestrial
Ena montana (Draparnaud, 1801)
Merdigera obscura = Ena obscura (O. F. Müller, 1774)
Punctidae - terrestrial
Punctum pygmaeum (Draparnaud, 1801)
Paralaoma servilis (Shuttleworth, 1852) - introduced
Helicodiscidae - terrestrial
Lucilla singleyana = Helicodiscus singleyanus Pilsbry, 1890 - introduced
Discidae - terrestrial
Discus rotundatus rotundatus (O. F. Müller, 1774)
Arionidae - terrestrial
Arion ater (Linnaeus, 1758)
Arion rufus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Arion flagellus Collinge, 1893 - introduced?
Arion vulgaris Moquin-Tandon, 1855 = Arion lusitanicus auct. non Mabille, 1868 - introduced
Arion sp. "Davies" - introduced?
Arion subfuscus Draparnaud, 1805
Arion fuscus O.F. Müller, 1774 - introduced?
Arion cf. iratii Garrido, Castillejo & Iglesias, 1995 - introduced?
Arion circumscriptus Johnston, 1828
Arion silvaticus Lohmander, 1937
Arion fasciatus (Nilsson, 1823) - introduced?
Arion hortensis A. Férussac, 1819
Arion distinctus J. Mabille, 1868
Arion owenii Davies, 1979
Arion cf. fagophilus de Winter, 1986 - introduced?
Arion intermedius (Normand, 1852)
Pristilomatidae - terrestrial
Vitrea contracta (Westerlund, 1871)
Vitrea crystallina (O. F. Müller, 1774)
Vitrea subrimata (Reinhardt, 1871)
Euconulidae - terrestrial
Euconulus c.f. fulvus (O. F. Müller, 1774) ?= Euconulus fulvus
Euconulus c.f. alderi (J.E. Gray, 1840) ?= Euconulus alderi
Gastrodontidae - terrestrial
Zonitoides nitidus (O. F. Müller, 1774)
Zonitoides excavatus (Alder, 1830)
Oxychilidae - terrestrial
Oxychilus alliarius (Miller, 1822)
Oxychilus cellarius (O. F. Müller, 1774)
Oxychilus draparnaudi draparnaudi (Beck, 1837) - introduced
Oxychilus navarricus helveticus (Blum, 1881) - introduced
Aegopinella nitidula (Draparnaud, 1805)
Aegopinella pura (Alder, 1830)
Nesovitrea hammonis (Ström, 1765) = Perpolita hammonis
Milacidae - terrestrial
Milax gagates (Draparnaud, 1801) - introduced?
Tandonia rustica (Millet, 1843) - introduced?
Tandonia budapestensis (Hazay, 1881) - introduced
Tandonia cf cristata (Kaleniczenko, 1851) - introduced
Tandonia sowerbyi (A. Férussac, 1823) - introduced?
Vitrinidae - terrestrial
Vitrina pellucida (O. F. Müller, 1774)
Phenacolimax major (A. Férussac, 1807) - native?
Boettgerillidae - terrestrial
Boettgerilla pallens Simroth, 1912 - introduced
Trigonochlamydidae - terrestrial
Selenochlamys ysbryda Rowson & Symondson, 2008 - introduced
Limacidae - terrestrial
Limax maximus Linnaeus, 1758
Limax cinereoniger Wolf, 1803
Limax cf. dacampi Menegazzi, 1854 - introduced
Limacus flavus (Linnaeus, 1758) - introduced?
Limax maculatus (Kaleniczenko, 1851) - introduced
Malacolimax tenellus (O. F. Müller, 1774)
Lehmannia marginata (O. F. Müller, 1774)
Lehmannia nyctelia (Bourguignat, 1861) - introduced
Lehmannia valentiana (A. Férussac, 1822) - introduced
Agriolimacidae - terrestrial
Deroceras laeve (O. F. Müller, 1774)
Deroceras agreste (Linnaeus, 1758)
Deroceras reticulatum (O. F. Müller, 1774)
Deroceras panormitanum (Lessona & Pollonera, 1882) = Deroceras caruanae (Polonera, 1891) - introduced
Deroceras invadens Reise et al., 2011 - introduced
Ferussaciidae - terrestrial
Cecilioides acicula (O. F. Müller, 1774)
Clausiliidae - terrestrial
Alinda biplicata biplicata (Montagu, 1803) - introduced?
Balea perversa (Linnaeus, 1758)
Balea heydeni Von Maltzan, 1881
Clausilia bidentata bidentata (Ström, 1765)
Clausilia dubia dubia Draparnaud, 1805
Cochlodina laminata (Montagu, 1803)
Macrogastra rolphii (Turton, 1826)
Papillifera bidens (Müller, 1774) - introduced, probably since 1896
Testacellidae - terrestrial
Testacella maugei A. Férussac, 1822 - introduced?
Testacella haliotidea Draparnaud, 1801 - introduced?
Testacella scutulum Sowerby, 1821 - introduced?
Testacella sp. "tenuipenis" - introduced?
Helicodontidae - terrestrial
Helicodonta obvoluta obvoluta (O.F. Müller, 1774)
Cochlicellidae - terrestrial
Cochlicella acuta (O. F. Müller, 1774)
Cochlicella barbara (Linnaeus, 1758)
Hygromiidae - terrestrial
Ashfordia granulata (Alder, 1830) = Monacha granulata
Candidula gigaxii (L. Pfeiffer, 1850) - introduced
Candidula intersecta (Poiret, 1801) - introduced
Candidula unifasciata unifasciata (Poiret, 1801) - introduced?
Cernuella aginnica (Locard, 1894) - introduced
Cernuella neglecta (Draparnaud, 1805) - introduced, now extinct in G.B.
Cernuella virgata (Da Costa, 1778) - introduced
Helicella itala itala (Linnaeus, 1758)
Hygromia cinctella (Draparnaud, 1801) - introduced
Hygromia limbata limbata (Draparnaud, 1805)
Monacha cantiana (Montagu, 1803) - introduced
Monacha cartusiana (O. F. Müller, 1774 - introduced
Ponentina subvirescens (Bellamy, 1839)
Pseudotrichia rubiginosa (Rossmässler, 1838)
Trochoidea elegans (Gmelin, 1791)
Trochulus hispidus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Trochulus sericeus (Draparnaud, 1801)
Trochulus striolatus (Pfeiffer, 1828) - indigenous?
Zenobiella subrufescens (Miller, 1822)
Bradybaenidae - terrestrial
Fruticicola fruticum (O. F. Müller, 1774) - now extinct in G.B.
Helicidae - terrestrial
Arianta arbustorum arbustorum (Linnaeus, 1758)
Helicigona lapicida lapicida (Linnaeus, 1758)
Theba pisana pisana (O. F. Müller, 1774) - introduced
Cepaea nemoralis nemoralis (Linnaeus, 1758)
Cepaea hortensis (O. F. Müller, 1774)
Eobania vermiculata (O. F. Müller, 1774) - introduced [1]
Cornu aspersum aspersum = Helix aspersus (O.F. Müller, 1774) - introduced
Helix pomatia Linnaeus, 1758 - introduced
Margaritiferidae - aquatic
Margaritifera margaritifera (Linnaeus, 1758) E
Unionidae - aquatic
Unio pictorum (Linnaeus, 1758)
Unio tumidus Philipsson, 1788
Anodonta anatina (Linnaeus, 1758)
Anodonta cygnea (Linnaeus, 1758)
Pseudanodonta complanata (Rossmässler, 1835) E
Sphaeriidae - aquatic
Sphaerium corneum (Linnaeus, 1758)
Sphaerium rivicola (Lamarck, 1818)
Sphaerium nucleus (Studer, 1820)
Sphaerium solidum (Normand, 1844)
Musculium lacustre (O. F. Müller, 1774)
Musculium transversum (Say, 1829)
Pisidium amnicum (O. F. Müller, 1774)
Pisidium casertanum (Poli, 1791)
Pisidium conventus (Clessin, 1877)
Pisidium henslowanum (Sheppard, 1823)
Pisidium hibernicum Westerlund, 1894
Pisidium lilljeborgii (Clessin, 1886)
Pisidium milium Held, 1836
Pisidium moitessierianum Paladilhe, 1866
Pisidium nitidum Jenyns, 1832
Pisidium obtusale (Lamarck, 1818)
Pisidium personatum Malm, 1855
Pisidium pulchellum (Jenyns, 1832)
Pisidium pseudosphaerium Favre, 1927
Pisidium subtruncatum Malm, 1855
Pisidium supinum A. Schmidt, 1851
Pisidium tenuilineatum Stelfox, 1918 E
Dreissenidae - aquatic
Dreissena polymorpha (Pallas, 1771) - introduced
Mytilopsis leucophaeata (Conrad, 1831) - introduced
Corbiculidae - aquatic
Corbicula fluminea (O. F. Müller, 1774) - introduced
This group of exotic land and freshwater species are not truly part of the fauna because they do not live in the wild. Many are tropical and thus are incapable of surviving in the wild in Great Britain; instead they have established themselves as uninvited inhabitants of greenhouses, aquaria within greenhouses, and similar artificially-heated habitats.
Thiaridae - aquatic
Melanoides tuberculata (O. F. Müller, 1774)
Gastrodontidae - terrestrial
Zonitoides arboreus (Say, 1816)
Lymnaeidae - aquatic
Radix rubiginosa (Michelin, 1831), native to Indo-China and Indonesia
Planorbidae - aquatic
Gyraulus chinensis (Dunker, 1848)
Planorbella duryi (Wetherby, 1879)
Pleurodiscidae - terrestrial
Pleurodiscus balmei (Potiez & Michaud, 1835)
Pristilomatidae - terrestrial
Hawaiia minuscula (Binney, 1841)
Helicodiscidae - terrestrial
Helicodiscus parallelus (Say, 1821)
Streptaxidae - terrestrial
Gulella io Verdcourt, 1974
Subulinidae - terrestrial
Allopeas clavulinum (Potiez & Michaud, 1838)
Opeas hannense (Rang, 1831)
Rumina decollata (Linnaeus, 1758)
Striosubulina sp.
Subulina octona (Bruguière, 1789)