The current status of Partula snails (original) (raw)

Partula snails were found on islands across the Pacific Ocean, from New Guinea to Polynesia. Some 150 species were described and those of French Polynesia became important in the study of evolution. They were among the first animals to be investigated in the wild for evidence of speciation in action, first with the studies of Alfred Meyer in 1899, then Henry Crampton in 1906-56 and finally the geneticists Bryan Clarke, Jim Murray and Michael Johnson from the early 1960s. This research came to an abrupt end in 1987 when most of the species disappeared (as Jim Murray reported in that year).

In the 1970s and early 1980s the carnivorous snail Euglandina rosea was introduced in a catastrophic biological control programme. Euglandina ignored its intended target, the large and tough giant African snail Lissachatina/Achatina fulica and instead devoured the small and tender Partula snails. As a result at least 50 species of Partula are now completely extinct, a further 11 survive only in captivity and just 5 species still exist in the wild in French Polynesia. The captive breeding programme for the surviving species has been in place since the early 1990s and many species have existed only in small boxes in controlled conditions for many generations. Efforts are underway to find a way of returning them to the wild. This requires new approaches to conservation and reintroduction as there is no realistic prospect of eliminating Euglandina. Instead, we must find a way of enabling Partula to coexist with its introduced enemy.

Current status of Partula on the IUCN Red List: