Alder Spittlebug vs common door snail

Aphrophora alni compared with Clausilia bidentata

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Alder Spittlebug	common door snail
Kingdom same	Animalia (Animals)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum	Arthropoda (Arthropods)	Mollusca (Mollusks)
Class	Insecta (Insects)	Gastropoda (Gastropoda)
Order	Hemiptera (Hemiptera)	Stylommatophora (Stylommatophora)
Family	Aphrophoridae	Clausiliidae
Genus	Aphrophora	Clausilia
Species	Aphrophora alni	Clausilia bidentata

Evolutionary Relationship

Alder Spittlebug and common door snail share a common ancestor at the Kingdom level: Animalia. (Animals)

Conservation Status

Alder Spittlebug

LC — Least Concern

common door snail

LC — Least Concern

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Alder Spittlebug	common door snail
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Alder Spittlebug

Habitat

Typically found in virtually all terrestrial and freshwater habitats.

Range

Found across Europe (5 countries) and North America (United States).

common door snail

Habitat

Typically found in terrestrial and aquatic habitats including forests and freshwater.

Range

Distributed across Belgium, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden.

Alder Spittlebug

The Alder Spittlebug (Aphrophora alni) is a species in the genus Aphrophora. It is currently classified as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. Typically found in virtually all terrestrial and freshwater habitats.

common door snail

<em>Clausilia bidentata</em>, the common door snail, is a terrestrial gastropod mollusk in the family Clausiliidae. This species is distributed across Belgium, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, where it typically inhabits moist terrestrial environments including deciduous woodlands, rocky slopes, hedgerows, and the margins of freshwater habitats. The common door snail is recognized by its elongated, sinistral (left-handed) shell, which is a distinctive trait of the family Clausiliidae. The shell is typically brown to gray and reaches approximately 12–15 millimeters in length. <em>Clausilia bidentata</em> generally feeds on algae, lichens, fungi, and decaying plant material by rasping food with a radula. It often shelters under bark, stones, and leaf litter during dry or cold conditions. Like many clausiliids, it possesses a complex internal shell structure called a clausilium that closes the shell aperture to reduce desiccation. The species is assessed as Least Concern, reflecting stable populations across its European range. Detailed biological traits beyond those noted here are not extensively documented in the current scientific literature.

Shared Countries

Both species can be found in 4 countries:

🇧🇪 Belgium 🇩🇰 Denmark 🇳🇴 Norway 🇸🇪 Sweden