common door snail vs Eurasian water shrew

Clausilia bidentata compared with Neomys fodiens

Key Differences

• common door snail is Least Concern while Eurasian water shrew is Endangered.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	common door snail	Eurasian water shrew
Kingdom same	Animalia (Animals)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum	Mollusca (Mollusks)	Chordata (Chordates)
Class	Gastropoda (Gastropoda)	Mammalia (Mammals)
Order	Stylommatophora (Stylommatophora)	Soricomorpha (Soricomorpha)
Family	Clausiliidae	Soricidae
Genus	Clausilia	Neomys
Species	Clausilia bidentata	Neomys fodiens

Evolutionary Relationship

common door snail and Eurasian water shrew share a common ancestor at the Kingdom level: Animalia. (Animals)

Conservation Status

common door snail

LC — Least Concern

Eurasian water shrew

EN — Endangered

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	common door snail	Eurasian water shrew
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

common door snail

Habitat

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

Range

Distributed across Belgium, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden.

Eurasian water shrew

Habitat

Typically found in diverse terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.

Range

Distributed across Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Russia, and Sweden. Currently classified as Endangered on the IUCN Red List, this species faces significant conservation challenges across its range.

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.

Eurasian water shrew

Eurasian water shrew (Neomys fodiens) is classified as Endangered (EN) on the IUCN Red List. At high risk of extinction in the wild, with significant population decline and ongoing threats to survival.

Shared Countries

Both species can be found in 4 countries:

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