The specific namealliarius refers to Allium which means garlic. The common name also refers to the fact that when this animal is disturbed, it gives off a strong smell similar to that of raw garlic.[3]
The 3.5–4 by 5–7 millimetres (0.14 in–0.16 in × 0.20 in–0.28 in) shell has four or four and a half slightly convex whorls. The last whorl is often weakly descending near aperture. The whorls from whorl 3 onwards are more narrowly coiled than in Oxychilus cellarius, the last whorl descending lower. The umbilicus is wide (one sixth of diameter). The shell is smooth, shiny, weakly reddish to greenish brown. The animal is blackish blue.[5] Anatomy: The internal ornamentation of the proximal penis consisting of not more than four longitudinal pleats, usually straight, sometimes slightly wavy, but never laterally branched or papillate.[6]
^Miller J. S. (1822). "A list of the freshwater and landshells occurring in the environment of Bristol, with observations". Annals of Philosophy (New Series), London, 3(17): 376-381.
^ abHoráčková J. & Juřičková L. (2009). "A new record of Oxychilus alliarius (Gastropoda: Zonitidae) with the species distribution in the Czech Republic". Malacologica Bohemoslovaca8: 63-65. PDF.
