Snails are Molluscs and in the class Gastropoda. Australia has about 3000 species of native land snails occurring in a wide range of environments from saltbush plains to tropical rainforests.

We have 3 types:

SNAILS: Terrestrial or land snails with a well developed external shell into which the animal can fully retreat have evolved from marine snails about 350 millions years ago

SEMI-SLUGS: These are snails with a partly reduced shell which is too small for the snail to retreat into fully

SLUGS which are land snails that have evolved to live without their shell. They often have a rudimentary shell internally.

Land snails and slugs all have a similar external gastropod body plan subject to variation. Most have a shell of some sort whether it be external, internal or somewhere between the two.