231. Brown Hive

 The Brown Hive  (Euconulus fulvus) is another very tiny snail found in leaf litter at Leaning Oaks. This is a holarctic species found in both the old and new worlds and there are introduced populations in western Australia.  The foot of this snail (not shown in these photos) is extremely long and thin, and overall, a Brown Hive on the move is a rather elegant mollusc.  
Many snails which have protective shells have anatomical peculiarities caused the twisting of the body up and into the shell. In the case of this snail the anus is located near the right eye of the animal, which, at the risk of seeming overly critical, sounds like a design flaw to me.  Like many snails it is a hermaphrodite, that is it has both male and female  gonads. The penis of this snail as a finger like projection.   Hives are named after old-fashioned bee hives, which are similarly shaped.