Vindex Snail (Cookeana vindex)

The Vindex Snail was described in 1938, specimens were collected in 1934 at the northeastern slope of Mt. Pane on the island of Tubuai, Austral Islands.

The shells were turbinate and had large whorls, they were light brown, dull and hairy above with a polished base and bright chestnut with a light-brown band just below the angle.

The author of the species also gives a description of the animal itself.:

“Animal with foot usually dark, more deeply pigmented between pedal grooves, in 3 middorsal stripes on head and over mantle-lobes and shell-lap; lung dark or with network of transparent, whitish patches around kidney and pulmonary vein; apical whorls with considerable dark pigment and with blood vessels outlined by chalky deposit, Tail with distinct dorsomedian groove and short tail horn.” [1]

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This species was not found during all recent surveys and is believed to be extinct. [2]

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References:

[1] H. Burrington Baker: Zonitid snails from Pacific Islands: Southern genera of Microcystinae. Bishop Museum Bulletins 158: 1-101. 1938 
[2] Olivier Gargominy; Benoît Fontaine: A Global Overview of the Terrestrial and Freshwater Molluscs. In: Jean-Yves Meyer; Elin. M. Claridge: Biodiversity of the Austral Islands, French Polynesia. Muséum national d´Histoire naturelle, Paris. 55-91. 2014

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edited: 16.05.2019