Flat ram's-horn snail facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Flat ram's-horn snail
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Subclass:	Heterobranchia
Clade:	Euthyneura
Superorder:	Hygrophila
Family:	Planorbidae
Genus:	Hippeutis
Species:	H. complanatus
Binomial name
Hippeutis complanatus (Linnaeus, 1758)
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The flat ram's-horn snail, also known as Hippeutis complanatus, is a tiny freshwater snail. It's a type of mollusk that lives in water and breathes air. This snail belongs to a family called Planorbidae, which are often called "ram's horn snails" because of their shell shape. Hippeutis complanatus is a very important example for its group, the Hippeutis genus.

Where This Snail Lives

The flat ram's-horn snail lives across a wide area called the Palearctic zone. This huge region includes most of Europe and Asia. You can find these snails in many European countries.

They have been spotted in:

• Latvia
• Czech Republic
• Slovakia
• Poland
• Germany
• Austria
• Netherlands
• Sweden
• The British Isles, including Great Britain and Ireland

What Its Shell Looks Like

The shell of the flat ram's-horn snail is very small. It is almost perfectly flat and shaped like a lens. Imagine a tiny, flat disc. The whorls, which are the turns of the shell, overlap each other. This gives the shell its unique flat appearance. The color of the shell can be off-white or a yellowish-brown.

Where It Lives and What It Needs

This snail likes to live in quiet waters. You can often find it in ponds and ditches. It especially prefers water that has a lot of calcium. This means it likes places with "hard water."