Albinaria rollei (O. Boettger, 1896) – Endemic to Cyprus and Pentadaktylos mountain

 Endemic species of Cyprus and Pentadaktylos mountains

Albinaria rollei (O. Boettger, 1896) Ένα από τα πιο σπάνια ενδημικά χερσαία σαλιγκάρια της Κύπρου που το συναντούμε μόνο στην οροσειρά του κατεχόμενου πενταδάκτυλου και μόνο σε μια μικρή περιοχή.

Photos Pentadaktylos mountain 31/5/2023 by George Konstantinou

See also

List of non-marine molluscs of Cyprus - Freshwater snails and Land snails of Cyprus

                                                                                  Young

Albinaria is a genus of air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the family Clausiliidae, the door snails

The Albinaria snails live on limestone rocks, where they feed on algae and lichen. They are active only during the wet season, that is, in Mediterranean lowlands, from November through April. Eggs are laid shortly after the beginning of the wet season. The development from a juvenile to a fully grown shell takes two to three wet seasons. During the intermittent dry seasons, the snails, young and adults alike, aestivate ("the warm weather equivalent of hibernation) on the rocks or in crevices inside the rocks. For aestivation, aggregates are often formed, sometimes reaching sizes of many hundreds of individuals. During the last dry season prior to sexual maturation, the subadult snail (the shell of which is already fully developed, albeit thinner than that of an adult) increases the size of its genital organs. Copulation then takes place during the first weeks of autumn rains. Population densities can sometimes be very high, in spite of heavy predation by beetle larvae of the genus Drilus. These insects attack the snails during their aestivation, by perforating the shell and eating the snail inside

Habitat of Albinaria rollei at Pentadaktylos Mountains

Photos Pentadaktylos mountain 15/3/2024 by George Konstantinou