---
title: "Milk Snail"
description: "Otala lactea — Andere dieren. Otala lactea, known as the milk snail or Spanish snail, is a large, edible species of air-breathing land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk, in the family Helicidae, the typical snails."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/nl/animal/milk-snail
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Milk Snail

> Otala lactea — Andere dieren. Otala lactea, known as the milk snail or Spanish snail, is a large, edible species of air-breathing land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk, in the family Helicidae, the typical snails.

- Scientific name: *Otala lactea*
- Category: `other` (Andere dieren)
- Habitats: unknown
- iNaturalist observations: 22120
- Wikidata: [Q1785932](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1785932)
- iNaturalist taxon: [202861](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/202861)

## Names

- en: Milk Snail
- de: Schwarzmund-Feldschnecke
- es: Caracol de leche
- fr: Escargot espagnol

## Countries with the most observations

US (16713), PT (2212), ES (1554), BM (253), MX (105), MA (103), GI (17), FR (10)

## Summary

Otala lactea, known as the milk snail or Spanish snail, is a large, edible species of air-breathing land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk, in the family Helicidae, the typical snails.
Archaeological recovery at the Ancient Roman site of Volubilis, in Morocco, illustrates prehistoric consumption of O. lactea by humans.

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otala_lactea

## Photo

![Milk Snail](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/milk-snail/medium.jpg)

Photo: karangattu · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/19106903

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/milk-snail?lang=nl` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).