New Hawaiian snail species discovered

[FfFfFfFF 58,125]

Pacific island land snails are among the world’s most imperiled wildlife, with more recorded extinctions since 1600 than any other group of animals. Hawaii’s once-teeming land snail scene of more than 750 species has shrunk by more than half, ravaged by habitat loss and invasive species such as rats

Auriculella gagneorum, a small candy-striped snail from Oahu’s Waianae Mountains, represents the first new species of a living Hawaiian land snail described in 60 years. The species “brings that little glimmer of hope that this isn’t all a depressing story,” said the study’s lead author Norine Yeung, malacology curator at the Bishop Museum.

A team of researchers found A. gagneorum during a large-scale, decade-long survey of land snails that spanned 1,000 sites throughout the Hawaiian Islands.

The tree-dwelling snail shows pronounced variation in coloring, from burnished tiger’s-eye patterning to dramatic sable and white stripes. At less than two-tenths of an inch long, “you might be able to fit a dozen on your fingernail,” said study co-author John Slapcinsky

The researchers deposited a selection of A. gagneorum snails in Hawaii’s captive breeding program, with the goal of increasing their numbers and returning them to the wild.

 

Spoiler

(the new species represented by the F and K letters)

Source: https://www.heritagedaily.com/2020/07/new-native-hawaiian-land-snail-species-discovered/134341

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Queen ****

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Snails are cute.