Tag Archives: Partula lilacina Pfeiffer

Partula lutea (Lesson)

Yellow Tree Snail (Partula lutea)  

This variably colored species was described in the year 1831.  

The species was endemic to the island of Bora Bora, Society Islands, where it was the only member of its genus, and where it was still numerously found in the 19th century on the stems, branches, and leaves of the native vegetation.  

The shells reached a height of nearly 2 cm and was usually pale yellowish to light brown with the apex being of the same color or slightly darker.  

The Yellow Tree-Snail is now extinct. [1]  

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The same species was introduced to the island of Maupiti sometimes after 1929, from where it is known, however, only from subfossil shells, found and photographed in 2010, 2012 and 2017 by J.-F. Butaud, J. Gerlach and others.  

The species is extinct on Maupiti as well. [1][2]  

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References:  

[1] Justin Gerlach: Icons of Evolution: Pacific Island tree-snails, family Partulida, Phelsuma Press, Cambridge U.K. 2016 
[2] Justin Gerlach: Partula survival in 2017, a survey of the Society Islands  

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Photo: Alexander Lang 

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edited: 18.05.2019