Brown-lipped Snail Cepaea nemoralis
This is probably the best known snail: the Garden Snail. But did you know there are actually two species? The only way to tell them apart is by looking at their lipp (the opening of the shell). In one species the lipp has a light band and therefore the animal is called the White-lipped Snail. In the other species this band is brownish or black. This species is thus called... the Brown-lipped Snail. Both species can have exactly the same colours and both come in yellow, pink, brown and all shades of these colours. Their shells are identical as well, so only the colour of the lip gives them away. But to complicate things even more: this way of telling them apart works voor adult animals only. The colour of the edge in young animals doesn't mean a thing. Luckily there is a way of telling the animal is adult or not. Young have a very sharp edge, the exit of the adults have a bended edge. In most parts of Europe the Brown-lipped Snail is the most common species.
In the top picture an adult Brown-lipped Snail. It has a beautiful pinkish colour. In the second picture a shell in reverse: dark with a light line. In the third picture a shell that shows not only one line, but even three! In the bottom pictures two very young animals. The top baby will turn out pinkish, the bottom one will probably have a yellow home, once adult.
