Monteforte Land Snail (Hemicycla montefortiana)

This species was described in 2006, its (sub)fossil shells were found in fossil beds in the Barranco de Monforte on the island of La Gomera, Canary Islands.

The shells reach sizes of about 4,6 cm in diameter, they are very similar to those of another extinct member of this genus, Mousson’s Land Snail (Hemicycla moussoniana (Wollaston)) but are larger. [1]

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The fossil beds of La Gomera have been dated to Late Pleistocene to Holocene age, thus the Monteforte Land Snail may very well have survived into the Holocene.

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References:

[1] T. Beck; W. Rähle: Description of a newly discovered extinct repreentative of the genus Hemicycla Swainson, 1840 (Gastropoda, Pulmonata, Helicidae) from La Gomera, Canary Islands. Basteria 70: 53-56. 2006

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edited: 05.12.2018