Analyses based on DNA sequences have now established that C. aspersum and C. aperta share a clade with snails in the genera Otala and Eobania, distinct from the clade containing Helix, so it is no longer tenable to consider them as species of Helix.

Many subspecific varieties have been described on the basis of shell characters (e.g.). The most prominent example nowadays is the subspecies Cornu aspersum maximum (Taylor, 1883), originally described as a large shelled form