Hairy snail with intricate shell is a new species from India’s mountain forests
Scientists in the “vast expanses of forest” in the Western Ghats, a massive mountain range that stretches along India’s western peninsula, have discovered a new species of snail with a striking physical trait.
As juveniles and young adults, this new species has unusual thick hairs in spiral rows around its shell, earning Lagocheilus hayaomiyazakii its common name, the Tilari hairy snail, according to an Oct. 14 study published in the Journal of Conchology.
As they mature, the hairs thin and disappear entirely until they are left with a smooth shell, the study said.
These hairs may serve many different purposes, including defense against predators, protection from shell damage in a fall, seed dispersal, and camouflage by trapping dirt and environmental debris, according to the study.
On the Tilary hairy snail, its thick hairs and intricately sculpted shell create capillary action that pulls water upward away from its body, according to the study.
Researchers said the new species is small and the color of its shell closely “resembles the surrounding rocks.” Combined with the fact that they are often covered in mud, researchers said they are “challenging to see.”
The species, at an elevation of 2,400 feet, was found on “moss-covered boulders, on rocks at the bases of trees, and on rocks surrounded by leaf litter during the daytime,” according to the study.
It was also active during the monsoon season, according to researchers, lending further evidence that the species has adapted to survive in extremely wet conditions.
The new species can be distinguished from related species in South India and Sri Lanka by a unique combination of shell characters, including its conical shape and prominent sculpting with a raised spire, and, in juvenile and young adults, the presence of thick hairs, according to the study.
This is only the second species of Lagocheilus snail found in the Western Ghats, according to the study, and the first time any snail from the genus has been recorded in the northern Western Ghats of Maharashtra.
Its discovery extends the known distribution of the genus in the Western Ghats by 335 miles north.
The research team included Amrut Bhosale, Tejas Thackeray, Dinarzarde C. Raheem, Swapnil Pawar and Akshay Khandekar.
This story was originally published October 23, 2025 at 12:53 PM with the headline "Hairy snail with intricate shell is a new species from India’s mountain forests."
