Hi, Everyone!

There are indeed records of Arianta
arbustorum from North America.  In the 1980's
my colleague, John Maunder, and I discovered
several colonies of A. arbustorum in the St.
John's, Newfoundland area.  There were two
forms of this species.  They were quite
common in some localities, and I would assume
that they are still there.

They were found in the city and around nearby
towns.  We believe that they were probably
introduced.

St. John's is an old city, as North American
cities go, and a large proportion of the land
snail fauna there appears to have been
introduced, probably from Western Europe.

I hope this is helpful.
Ron


On Tue, 30 Sep 2003 09:30:17 +0000, Páll
Einarsson wrote:

>
> Here is a question for the land snail fans:
>
> Some of the common, large European land
> snails have spread to distant parts
> of the world with European culture, e.g.
> Helix aspersa, Cepaea nemoralis,
> Cepaea hortensis. Others have not. How far
> has Arianta arbustorum spread,
> for example? I have not been able to find
> records of it in America.
>
> Arianta arbustorum is in many parts of
Europe
> just as common as Cepaea
> nemoralis and lives in similar places. It
has
> been living in Eastern
> Iceland for a long time and was recently
> introduced to SW-Iceland,
> apparently by plants from Denmark. Has
> anybody seen it in the Eastern US?
>
> Páll Einarsson
> Iceland