Whitley’s Bothriembryon Snail (Bothriembryon whitleyi)

This land snail species was described in 1939, it appears to be known exclusively from empty shells, some of which are of Late Pleistocene age while others are certainly of Holocene age.

The species is thought to be extinct; however, some of the shells in the Western Australian Museum collection, collected between 1950 and 1970, appear freshly dead, thus some malacologists suggest that this species might still exist somewhere in Western Australia. [1]

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References:

[1] Corey S. Whisson; Lisa Kirkendale; Mikael Siversson: The presumed extinct Bothriembryon whitleyi Irelade, 1939, remains elusive. The Malacological Society of Australasia Newsletter 163: 1 & 5-6. 2017

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edited: 06.02.2024