Dear Phil and other Conch-Lers,

As many of you know, Cepaea nemoralis (Linnaeus, 1758) , unlike its
autochthonous congener, C. hortensis (Müller, 1774), is a European introduction
(allochthonous) to America.  Although the mostly the unintended result of
intentional horticultural plant introductions, the most noted importation of C.
n. was by W. G. Binney, who planted specimens from Sheffield, England in his
Burlington, N. J. garden.  I suspect the colony is still as prosperous as I
found it a century later, yet THIS COLONY does not seem to have spread beyond
town.  As of 1939 there was no published record of this species west of the
Rockies.  Certainly it reached Vancouver by adventitious means, likely
hitch-hiking on ornamental plants.

After I reported finding this species near Cincinnati, Ohio to him last summer,
Tom Watters told me that there were several other occurrences in that state
(most or all collected after 1939 I must presume).  Likewise it has shown up in
several other spots (I have a few E. Canada lots from well outside the New
World range reported by Pilsbry in 1939).  It is on the move, and this is the
first I've heard of a West Coast population.

Color and pattern have a genetic basis in C. n.  The Ohio shells I collected
included orange (unbanded), and a suite sent to me in 1976 having been
captively-bred Bill Clench (in Dorchester, MA but derived, I think from the
Burlington, NJ colony) has yellow, orange, banded and unbanded specimens, yet
some populations lack orange-shelled individuals.

This report, on reread, is a bit disjointed, but so are the zoogeography and
population genetics of this critter.

Harry


At 10:44 PM 4/26/00 -0700, you wrote:
>Dear Conch-Lers,
>
>This past week I was visiting family in North Vancouver, BC  (Canada)
>and was quite surprised by the numerous colonies of Cepea nemoralis in
>parks, gardens, etc.  The shells are rather varied in color and banding
>including a color form with a bright orange base color.  I'm left with
>some questions that I hope can be answered here:
>
>Does anyone know when this snail first showed up on the West Coast?
>
>How wide of a distribution does it have?
>
>Does an orange color form (both banded and unbanded) turn up elsewhere?
>
>Thanks in advance,
>
>Phil Liff-Grieff
>[log in to unmask]
>La Crescenta, California
Harry G. Lee
Suite 500
1801 Barrs St.
Jacksonville, FL 32204
USA   904-384-6419
<[log in to unmask]>
Visit the Jacksonville Shell Club Home Page at:
http://home.sprynet.com/~wfrank/jacksonv.htm

oo  .--.  oo  .--.  oo  .--.
 \\(____)_ \\(____)_ \\(____)_
  `~~~~~~~` `~~~~~~~` `~~~~~~~`