Cuban snail (Polymita picta)

Cuban snail or Polymita picta is a species of a land snail a terrestrial pulmonated gastropod mollusk in the family Helminthoglyptidae. As the name suggests, this colorful snail lives in Cuba and is collected by poachers to sell their shells as jewelry. They were listed as endangered in 2012.

These beautiful snails use their shells to attract their partner and during the mating behavior, they spear the partner with a calcareous dart. The Cuban snail mainly feeds on lichen, moss and on fungal biofilms present on bark and leaves and their life cycle lasts around 15 months.

This snail has female and male reproductive organs (hermaphroditic) and it is unable to self-fertilization.