{"id":1880,"date":"2021-07-04T05:58:36","date_gmt":"2021-07-04T11:58:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/investiga.uned.ac.cr\/urbanecology\/?p=1880"},"modified":"2025-06-09T18:36:07","modified_gmt":"2025-06-09T18:36:07","slug":"the-flying-snails-of-transylvania-that-shared-the-land-with-the-real-dracula","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/investiga.uned.ac.cr\/urbanecology\/2021\/07\/04\/the-flying-snails-of-transylvania-that-shared-the-land-with-the-real-dracula\/","title":{"rendered":"The flying snails of Transylvania that shared the land with the real Dracula"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Author: Juli\u00e1n Monge N\u00e1jera, Ecologist and Photographer\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his 1897 novel\u00a0Dracula<\/em>, Bram Stoker used Transylvanian nature as background, but besides the wolves, he did not turn animals into characters for his novel. This led me to inquire about what kind of land snails inhabit the Carpathian forest that so much scared Jonathan Harker in the land of Vlad Dracula.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Vlad Tepes (Dracula) and Transylvania castle. Modified from\u00a0Young Shanahan<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Trafalgar<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In Dracula<\/em>, Bram Stoker commented that the Transylvanian landscape was among the last unknown regions left in Europe; but, luckily, if you want to learn about Transylvanian land snails, there is a recent study about the snails of Cheile V\u00e2rghi\u0219ului, one of the snail rich limestone areas of the Carpathians\u00b9 . <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the report is surprising; I expected some monster snails fit to keep company with vampires, but no, the snails are tiny, many are endangered, and in some cases, we only know that they exist and little else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Carpathian forest is abundant in the common beech (Fagus sylvatica<\/em>); home to wolves, bears, boars and roe deer, and scary at night:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cThen, far off in the distance, from the mountains on each side of us began a louder and a sharper howling\u2014that of wolves\u2014which affected both the horses and myself in the same way\u2014for I was minded to jump from the cal\u00e8che and run, whilst they reared again and plunged madly, so that the driver had to use all his great strength to keep them from bolting\u201d\u00b2.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The limestone habitats, which from a distance look like giant skulls, have large populations of tiny snails, like the cylinder snail (Truncatellina cylindrica<\/em>) and the corn snail\u00a0(Granaria frumentum<\/em>). The greener parts are dominated by the so-called door snails or clausiliids, mostly the rippled snail (Laciniaria plicata<\/em>), the filigree snail (Ruthenica filograna<\/em>) and the bogatense snail (Alopia bogatensis<\/em>). Here are some watercolor sketches I made to give you an idea of what these snails look like:\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
In my sketchbook: Overview of Transylvania snails.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The cylinder snail<\/strong>, Truncatellina cylindrica<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let us start with the cylinder snail (Truncatellina cylindrica<\/em>); unlike the other species from this forest, we know a bit about this snail, humorously called by Prof. Kirchner and colleagues \u201cthe flying snail\u201d for the reason we will soon see.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2 mm long shell is a beautiful golden brown, and its growth interruptions are a hint that the animal survives the winter but stops growing during that difficult season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is found in sunny areas, and curiously, this snail used the stonecrop plant (Sedum<\/em>) as a roof, thousands of years before these particular plants became common in our own green roofs (sempergreen.com<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the second half of the year, the snail lays up to 11 eggs, smaller than a ball-pen dot, which surprisingly is protected by calcium like the eggs of vertebrates. After three weeks, the eggs hatch, and the snails live a maximum of 2 years. Snails of this size are thought to be transported by the wind over long distances, even over the sea, and that is why they have been called \u201cflying snails\u201d\u00b3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cylinder snail can become common in abandoned castles, but suffer when the castles are restored and they lose their microhabitats\u2074.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The corn snail,<\/strong> Granaria frumentum<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second snail in our list, the 8 mm long corn snail, Granaria frumentum<\/em>, grows better in the northern slope of hills, just like its relatives in the Fortress of Saladin (see the Saladin article from this series here<\/a>)\u2075.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nobody knows why for this particular species, but it may be that the northern side is moister and thus, richer in food and less demanding physiologically. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The effect of climate on shell size is used to estimate the temperature in archaeological and fossil sites where the snail remains are found\u2076.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The poor snail is the sole victim of larvae of the parasitoid fly Pherbellia limbate<\/em>\u2077.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rippled snail<\/strong>, Laciniaria plicata<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At 4 cm long, the rippled snail Laciniaria plicata<\/em> is a giant among door snails, which are normally under 1 cm long; little is known about its biology, but quite curiously it has been found attached to frogs\u2078.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other than that, I could find almost nothing about the rippled snail of Transylvania.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The filigree snail,<\/strong> Ruthenica filograna<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The filigree snail, Ruthenica filograna<\/em>, is 9 mm long, pale yellowish brown, and curiously the shape of its aperture changes greatly from region to region, but nobody knows if this is an adaptation for local conditions or a random mutation\u2079. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike the fictional vampires, it seems to do well in sunny spots and can dig itself into the soil when cool and dry weather make it necessary. Filigree snails become adults in 3-6 months\u00b9\u2070.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They like to live in a litter of hornbeam (Carpinus betulus<\/em>) and ash (Fraxinus excelsior<\/em>), but avoid the litter of oak (Quercus<\/em>), sycamore (Acer pseudo-platanus<\/em>) and aspen (Populus tremula<\/em>), which may be unedible to them\u00b9\u00b9.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bogatensis snail,<\/strong> Alopia bogatensis<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bogatensis snail, Alopia bogatensis<\/em>, is horny yellowish, intermediate in size (19 mm) and seems to prefer humid limestone habitats in mountains. Where it occurs, it dominates other snails and reaches large densities\u00b9.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike most land snails, members of the Clausiliidae family are almost exclusively sinistral. And in the case of the genus Alopia to which bogatensis belongs, both sinistral and dextral species are known, but they seem to appear at random. Again, nobody knows why a direction for growth has not been fixed in these mysterious animals<\/em>\u00b9\u00b2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Will the Carpathian snails disappear soon into the darkness of the Transylvanian night?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Carpathian snails are threatened by continuous habitat destruction, and in some cases, they represent the last populations of species now extinct in other parts of Europe. Their survival depends on the persistence of limestone habitats with good moisture and vegetation, or, for other species, on the availability of forest with appropriate litter1<\/em>. Let us hope they stay with us for many years to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can only wonder if, at any time in his life, perhaps as a child, Vlad Dracula took a moment to observe any of these snails that inhabited his beautiful but suffering land. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

*Edited\u00a0by\u00a0Zaidett Barrientos,\u00a0Katherine Bonilla y\u00a0Carolina Seas.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Originally published  in Blog Biolog\u00eda Tropical: 21 august 2020<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

REFERENCES<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u00b9 Gheoca, V. (2016). Land snail communities of Cheile V\u00e2rghi\u0219ului Nature Reserve (the Per\u0219ani Mountains, Romania). Studia Universitatis Babe\u015f-Bolyai Biologia<\/em>, 61<\/em>(2), 167-176.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b2 Stoker, B. (1897). Dracula. New York, USA: Grosset and Dunlap. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b3 Kirchner, C. H., Kr\u00e4tzner, R., & Welter-Schultes, F. W. (1997). Flying snails\u2014how far can Truncatellina<\/em>(Pulmonata: Vertiginidae) be blown over the sea? Journal of Molluscan Studies<\/em>, 63<\/em>(4), 479-487.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2074 Alexandrowicz, W. P. (2013). The malacofauna of the castle ruins in Melsztyn near Tarnow (Roznow Foothills, Southern Poland). Folia Malacologica<\/em>, 21<\/em>(1), 9-18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2075 Gittenberger E. (1973). Beitrage zur Kenntniss der Pupillacea. III. Chondrininae. Leiden, 127<\/em>, 1-266.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2076 S\u00f3lymos, P., & S\u00fcmegi, P. (1997). The shell morpho-thermometer method and its application in palaeoclimatic reconstruction. Annales Universitatis Scientiarum Budapestinensis de Rolando Eotvos Nominatae, Sectio Geologica<\/em>, 32<\/em>, 137-148.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2077 Nerudova-Horsakova, J.,  et al. (2016). Biology and immature stages of Pherbellia limbata<\/em> (Diptera: Sciomyzidae), a parasitoid of the terrestrial snail Granaria frumentum<\/em>. Zootaxa<\/em>, 4117<\/em>(1), 048-062.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2078 Kolenda, K., et al. (2017). A possible phoretic relationship between snails and amphibians. Folia Malacologica,<\/em> 25<\/em>(4), 281-285.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2079 Szybiak, K., & Le\u015bniewska, M. (2008) Variability in the sculpture of the shell aperture of Ruthenica filograna<\/em> (Rossm\u00e4ssler, 1836) (Gastropoda: Clausiliidae) in specimens from natural populations and from laboratory breeding. Journal of Molluscan Studies, 74 <\/em>(2), 183-189.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b9\u2070 Szybiak, K., et al. (2015). Reproduction and shell growth in two clausillids with different reproductive strategies. Biologia<\/em>, 70<\/em>(5), 625-631.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b9\u00b9 Szybiak, K., et al. (2009). Variation in spatial structure and abundance of clausiliids (Mollusca: Clausiliidae) in the nature reserve Debno nad Wart\u0105 (W Poland) during wintering. J. Conch<\/em>, 39<\/em>(6), 611-620.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b9\u00b2 Feh\u00e9r, Z., et al. (2013). Molecular phylogeny of the land snail genus Alopia<\/em> (Gastropoda: Clausiliidae) reveals multiple inversions of chirality. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society<\/em>, 167<\/em>(2), 259-272. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Author: Juli\u00e1n Monge N\u00e1jera, Ecologist and Photographer\u00a0 In his 1897 novel\u00a0Dracula, Bram Stoker used Transylvanian nature as background, but besides the wolves, he did not turn animals into characters for his novel. This led me to inquire about what kind of land snails inhabit the Carpathian forest that so much scared Jonathan Harker in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2005,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1880","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-scientific-investigation","8":"czr-hentry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/investiga.uned.ac.cr\/urbanecology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/investiga.uned.ac.cr\/urbanecology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/investiga.uned.ac.cr\/urbanecology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investiga.uned.ac.cr\/urbanecology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investiga.uned.ac.cr\/urbanecology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1880"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/investiga.uned.ac.cr\/urbanecology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1880\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2006,"href":"https:\/\/investiga.uned.ac.cr\/urbanecology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1880\/revisions\/2006"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investiga.uned.ac.cr\/urbanecology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/investiga.uned.ac.cr\/urbanecology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investiga.uned.ac.cr\/urbanecology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investiga.uned.ac.cr\/urbanecology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}