''Paryphanta'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

land snail A land snail is any of the numerous species of snail that live on land, as opposed to the sea snails and freshwater snails. ''Land snail'' is the common name for terrestrial molluscs, terrestrial gastropod mollusks that have gastropod shell, shel ...

s in the family

Rhytididae Rhytididae is a Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic family (biology), family of medium-sized predatory air-breathing land snails, carnivorous terrestrial molluscs, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod Mollusca, molluscs in the superfamily Rhytidoidea.Mollus ...

. Species from

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

are known commonly as kauri snails (

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

: ''pūpūrangi''). They are closely related and similar to snails in the genus ''

Powelliphanta ''Powelliphanta'' is a genus of large, air-breathing land snails, pulmonate gastropods in the family Rhytididae, found only in New Zealand. They are carnivorous, eating invertebrates, mostly native earthworms. Often restricted to very small area ...

'', which was formerly included within ''Paryphanta''. There are just two species of ''Paryphanta:'' '' Paryphanta busbyi'' and '' Paryphanta watti,'' which occur from North Cape to West Auckland. ''P. watti'' occurs only at the extreme northern end of this range near

Kaeo Kaeo (Māori: ''Kāeo'') is a township in the Far North District of New Zealand, located some northwest of Kerikeri. The town's name comes from the Māori-language name of the New Zealand freshwater mussel, which is found in nearby rivers. Sa ...

. This form is of much darker coloration and often smaller, although does reach the same size as ''P. busbyi'' if allowed to reach old age. Classification of some land snails can be complicated by variations in shell induced by environmental changes.

See also

References

Further reading