HELIX: Data-driven characterization of Brazilian land snails

The Subulinidae family of Brazilian land snails includes similar species with particular morphometrical characteristics. We surveyed the metro area of the Juiz de Fora/MG city and collected snails from a representative private property with centered at 21º42'31''S, 43º21'26'', alt. 795m, with red-yellow oxisol, 8.5 pH, and Cwa climate. We performed monthly collections in a ecosystem with Pennisetum purpureum, Brachiaria mutica, Paspalum notatum, Bidens pilosa, Leucena leucocephala, and Ricinus communis plants near a river flow in the 2008/Sep - 2009/Aug timespan. There, we defined an equally spaced transect of 200m with ten collection points and gathered 50 x 50 cm, 500 g litter-falls. Samples were sieved by 2.0 mm meshs, and living specimens were cleaned and fixed in a Railliet-Henry liquid, their shells removed, dried, and separated. Finally, we label the species and create the Helix dataset. We measured each shell Height, Diameter, Spire height, and Aperture width and height with a pachymeter. The dataset includes 518 instances labeled as Beckianum beckianum (28.8%), Dysopeas muibum (21.2%), Allopeas gracilis (9.7%), Leptinaria unilamellata (12%), and Subulina octona (28.3%).