Succinea atollica Hertlein & Allison

Atoll Amber Snail (Succinea atollica)

This very interesting species was described in 1968 based on about 30 specimens that were collected on Clipperton Island in the Pacific Ocean apparently 10 years earlier, when the species appeared to be very abundant on the atoll.

The rather unusal shell (for a member of that genus) reaches a length of about 1,1 cm, it is elongately ovate, thin, andr tanslucent, the upper whorls are light amber-colored, the last whorl is grayish-yellow with iregularely spaced brown lines which parallel the growth lines. [1]

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The Atoll Amber Snail was not found alive since 1958 and it is obviously extinct. [2]

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References:

[1] L. G. Hertlein; E. C. Allison: Descriptions of new species of gastropods from Clipperton Island. Occasional Papers of the California Academy of Science 66: 1-33. 1968

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Photo from: ‘Kirstie L. Kaiser: The recent molluscan fauna of Île Clipperton (Tropical Eastern Pacific). The Festivus 39. 2007’

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edited: 31.10.2020