Identifying common British snails: Cepaea species

Cepaea species – Banded Snails

Brightly coloured shells, yellow, or pink or a shade of brown, with or without brown spiral bands. These are commonly known as Banded Snails, even though some specimens have no banding.

There are two common species in Britain, and although there are some very rare exceptions, for present purposes we will rely on the lip colour to differentiate between the two. The Brown-lipped Banded Snail is Cepaea nemoralis and the White-lipped Banded Snail is Cepaea hortensis. Full descriptions of both are available by clicking on the image above.

Both species are the most varied in colour and banding of all the British species of helicid snails.