''Partulina porcellana'' is a
species
A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...
of
tropical
The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...
air-breathing
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 ...
, a
terrestrial
Terrestrial refers to things related to land or the planet Earth, as opposed to extraterrestrial.
Terrestrial may also refer to:
* Terrestrial animal, an animal that lives on land opposed to living in water, or sometimes an animal that lives on o ...
pulmonate
Pulmonata or pulmonates is an informal group (previously an order, and before that, a subclass) of snails and slugs characterized by the ability to breathe air, by virtue of having a pallial lung instead of a gill, or gills. The group inclu ...
gastropod
Gastropods (), commonly known as slugs and snails, belong to a large Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda ().
This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, freshwater, and fro ...
mollusk
Mollusca is a phylum of protostomic invertebrate animals, whose members are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 76,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized, making it the second-largest animal phylum after Arthropoda. The ...
in the family
Achatinellidae
Achatinellidae is a family of tropical air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Pupilloidea.
Taxonomy
It was previously the only family in the superfamily Achatinelloidea (according to the tax ...
. This species is
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...
to
Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...
in the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
. The oldest age that species in the genus ''Partulina'' reach range from 10 and 19 years.
Description
This land snail's shell has colors that are a range of brown and it may also have white rings spiraling around its shell.
The direction of the shell's coil goes to the right, falling under the dextrally coiled category.
The snail itself has a slightly transparent appearance and has a gray appearance. The ''Partulina porcellana'' is less than two inches long
and has a symmetrical body.
Distribution & Habitat
''Partulina porcellana'' is categorized as a G1 Critically Imperiled species, meaning that it's at high risk of extinction. It's endemic to Maui, Hawaii and has been found throughout Makawao and Kipahulu. The population of the species is in small numbers as its reproductive rate is low. ''Partulina porcellana'' can be found on the island of Maui, specifically in Kipahulu Valley, mainly residing on ''Antidesma platyphyllum''. Due to invasion of ''Psidium cattleianum'', commonly known as strawberry guava, the ''Partulina porcellana''
's habitat is at risk. This species is the rarest throughout the Valley.
[Diong, C. (1982) ''Population biology and management of the feral pig (Sus scrofa L.) in Kipahulu Valley, Maui'' octoral dissertation, University of Hawaiihttp://www.hear.org/articles/diong1982/]
References
Partulina
Molluscs of Hawaii
Gastropods described in 1853
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot
{{Achatinellidae-stub