Bronze Pupasnail
S2
Ellura
Bronze Pupasnail
S2
 
                      
Bronze Pupasnail (Omegapilla australis)Class: Animals (Animalia) - Molluscs (Mollusca) - Gastropods, Slugs, And Snails (Gastropoda)
Order: Land Snails & Slugs (Stylommatophora)
Family: Chrysalis Snails (Pupillidae)     iNaturalist Observation
Species: Bronze Pupasnail (Omegapilla australis)
This Photo:     S2

Thank you Dr Kevin Bonham AM, Frank Walther & Ben Travaglini for identifying this species for us

General Species Information:
Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA) and elsewhere
~3mm long. Woo Hoo, our first native snail! It does get disconcerting to only find introduced species.
Notice there are different colour forms, which is not diagnostic.
They look remarkably like Gecko/small reptile scats. At first we didn't even recognise them as animals. Gently removed them from the wall and they stayed motionless. After catching 10 or more over the last month, one of them started moving and we were lucky to get a shot of the animal (well outside it's shell)
Kevin said "This is what they look like when adult - the outer lip is thickened"
We noticed the darker one became pale around the 1st whorl within hours, which really surprised us. We suggested the colour difference was perhaps due to the animal inside retreating further in. Ken responded with "Yes the shell is paler than the live animal. These multi-whorled species can retreat a long way into their shell when not active for whatever reason."
This indicates how translucent the shell is.

Copyright © 2023-2024 Brett & Marie Smith. All Rights Reserved. Photographed 05-Jun-2023
This species is an Australian Native Species, not listed in the SA Murray Mallee Survey of 2010.