Once used as decorative items in Polynesian ceremonial wear and jewelry, these small snails (averaging about one-half to three-quarters of an inch in length) gained the attention of science when Dr. Henry Crampton (along with Yoshio Kondo) spent 50 years studying and cataloging partulids, detailing their remarkable array of morphological elements, ecological niches, and behavioral aspects that illustrate adaptive radiation.[5][6]
Decline
The partulids of the island of Tahiti act as an example of the possible deleterious effects of attempted biological control. After an infestation of the introduced giant African land snails (Achatina spp.), the carnivorous Florida rosy wolfsnail (Euglandina rosea) was introduced into Tahiti in an attempt to combat the African species.
The wolfsnail chose instead to hunt and eat members of the nearly 76 species of Partula that were endemic to Tahiti and the nearby islands, devouring all but 12 species in a decade. Several scientists recognized what was going on, and were able to save 12 species prior to their becoming extinct.
Today, the Zoological Society of London runs the Partula Programme Consortium which maintains a captive-breeding programme in the United Kingdom, France, and the United States.
The 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species contains 15 critically endangered, 11 extinct in the wild, and 48 extinct Partula species.[7] The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species version 2009.2 contains 13 critically endangered, 11 extinct in the wild and 51 extinct Partula species.[8] The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species version 2015-4 contains 83 Partula species.[9]
Individuals are being reintroduced to Tahiti from captive breeding programmes since 2014.[10][11] In April 2023, over 5,000 individual snails from zoos in the United States and the United Kingdom were released on Tahiti and Mo'orea.
Partula species on Tahiti were usually found on the undersides of the leaves of Caladium and plantain, although in some valleys, they were frequently found on Dracaena and turmeric.[15]
References
This article incorporates public domain text from the reference.[15]
^Férussac A. É. d'A. de (June 1821). Journ. de Physique92: 460; 1821, H.N. g. et p. Moll., Tabl. Limaçons, 23.
^Myers, P.; Espinosa, R.; Parr, C. S.; Jones, T.; Hammond, G. S. & Dewey, T. A. (2006). The Animal Diversity Web (online). Accessed at http://animaldiversity.org.
^Searching for "Partula". In: IUCN 2010. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2010.3. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 14 September 2010.
^Jung, Younghun, Taehwan Lee, Burch J. B. & Diarmaid Ó Foighil. (2005) "Historical phylogeny of Tahitian Partula". Proc. Joint Conference - American Malacological Society and Western Society of Malacologists.
^ abMayer A. G. (January 1902). "Some species of Partula from Tahiti. A study in variation". Memoirs of the Museum of Comparative ZoölogyXXVI(2), Cambridge, U.S.A.
