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Project Noah Nature School
Parmarion martensi
A transparent gastropod with a bulging mantle, as seen on the dorsal body surface. Length between 2 and 3 inches. You can see this gastropod retracting its tentacle, which has an eye spot, in the second photo.
Seen crossing the wet road after some rainfall.
Invasive in HI and was introduced around 2004 to the big island.
Yes, me as well. It amazing the damage that can occur with the rapid introduction of alien species, especially in an island environment. Good work with the mission! I don't know the species, identification of snails is tough, even more so without the shell present.
JackW, that actually makes me quite sad, but I find it unsurprising that there were once so many snails and that they became extinct. It's an all too familiar concept in Hawaii. It's the reason I started this mission: http://www.projectnoah.org/missions/1763...
On another note, any idea what genus this snail belongs to? Thank you for your insight.
Hawaii once had one of the richest snail diversities on the planet but has lost over 900 of its native species to extinction from predation by introduced animals and the clearing of brush lands.
HarishamSama, that's what I initially thought. The mantle looks kind of odd though, so I thought this may be a semislug.
unfortunately no , Kunzah :( But Veterinarians have been known to glue back the shell or reconstruct the shells of pet snails.
Aw, that's what someone else who saw this told me. Thanks for confirming, Hemma!
Now I'm also very curious as to what the shell looked like.
Spotted on Jan 5, 2013
Submitted on Jan 30, 2013
