Cepaea
Cepaea is a genus of large air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs in the family Helicidae. The shells are often brightly colored and patterned with brown stripes. The two species in this genus, C. nemoralis and C. hortensis, are widespread and common in Western and Central Europe and have been introduced to North America. Both have been influential model species for ongoing studies of genetics and natural selection. Like many Helicidae, these snails use love darts during mating. Species For a long time, four species were classified in the genus Cepaea. However, molecular phylogenetic studies suggested that two of them should be placed in the genera Macularia and Caucasotachea, which are not immediate relatives either of Cepaea or each other: Cepaea hortensis (O. F. Müller, 1774) – white-lipped snail or garden banded snail Cepaea nemoralis (Linnaeus, 1758) – brown-lipped snail or grove snail Cepaea sylvatica (Draparnaud, 1801), now Macularia sylvatica Cepaea vindobonensis (Férussac, 1821), now Caucasotachea vindobonensis Interspecific relations The range of C. hortensis extends further north than that of C. nemoralis in Scotland and Scandinavia and it is the only one of the two species in Iceland. Likewise in the Swiss Alps C. hortensis is found as high