Polymita picta (Born, 1778) - painted snail from Cuba. (oblique apical view) (public display, Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum, Sanibel Island, Florida, USA)

The gastropods (snails & slugs) are a group of molluscs that occupy marine, freshwater, and terrestrial environments. Most gastropods have a calcareous external shell (the snails). Some lack a shell completely, or have reduced internal shells (the slugs & sea slugs & pteropods). Most members of the Gastropoda are marine. Most marine snails are herbivores (algae grazers) or predators/carnivores.

The shell shown above is from the painted snail, Polymita picta, which is a type of arboreal Cuban land snail. Considerable color variation exists in this species, which only occurs in forests of what used to be called Oriente Province in eastern Cuba. Many nominal subspecies have been proposed, as well as "varieties" (= sub-subspecific nomens) that are automatically invalid in modern zoological taxonomy (see the ICZN - International Code of Zoological Nomenclature).

Classification: Animalia, Mollusca, Gastropoda, Pulmonata, Helminthoglyptidae

Locality: Oriente Province, eastern Cuba

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