canopy cover. It lives in shrubs and open woods, in plains and highlands, dunes, cultivated habitats, gardens and roadsides. It can be found up to an altitude of 1200 m in the Alps, 1800 m in the Pyrenees, 900 m in Wales, 600 m in Scotland. This species feeds mainly on dead or senescent plants. It is not noxious to crops. Like most pulmonate land snails, it is hermaphrodite and must mate to produce fertile eggs. Mating tends to be concentrated in late spring and early summer, though it can continue through the autumn. The snails often store the sperm they receive from their partner for some time, and individual broods can have mixed paternity. In Britain it lays clutches of 30–50 (in France 40–80) oval eggs between June and August (in France May–October, in W France until November). The size of the egg is 3.1 × 2.6 mm or egg diameter can be 2.3–3.0 mm. Juveniles hatch after 15–20 days. Maturity is reached when the shell reaches full adult form, which in France is after one year. This snail is comparatively slow-growing, usually taking three years to develop from an egg to a breeding adult. The life-span for this species is up to seven or eight years, with annual survival rates of about 50% (= 3% in five years, older adults suffer higher mortalities). In winter, the snails may hibernate, but can become active again during warm spells. Cepaea nemoralis is known experimentally to be a host for Angiostrongylus vasorum. Predators of Cepaea nemoralis include the song thrush (Turdus philomelos). References This article includes public domain text from the reference and CC-BY-2.5 text from the reference External links Cepaea nemoralis at Animalbase taxonomy,short description, distribution, biology,status (threats), images Cepaea nemoralis images at Encyclopedia of Life Evolution MegaLab was an online survey of Cepaea polymorphism (no longer online) Life & Environment, University of the West of Scotland Helicidae Gastropods described in 1758 Molluscs of Europe Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus