Tag Archives: Palline notera

Palline notera ssp. notera Solem

Peleliu Palline Snail (Palline notera ssp. notera)  

The nominate race of this species was restricted to the island of Peleliu, Palau Islands.  

The shells reached an average size of 0,19 to 0,24 cm in diameter.  

***

The majority of the habitat of this, and other snail species from the island of Peleliu, was destroyed during World War II, when large areas of the island forests were destroyed – by the summer of 1944 the island was occupied by about 11000 Japanese soldiers, which had entrenched themselves in subterranean tunnel systems. The US-Army, which landed on the island in the September of the year 1944, deployed flamethrowers and grenades, but also napalm bombs, to deforest the Japanese positions.  

***

Field searches in the years 2003, 2005, and 2007 were unsuccessful, and this form is now most probably extinct.  

*********************  

References:  

[1] Alan Solem: Endodontoid land snails from Pacific Islands (Mollusca: Pulmonata: Sigmurethra). Part II, Families Punctidae and Charopidae, Zoogeography. Field Museum of Natural History Chicago, Illinois 1983

*********************  

edited: 07.11.2020