Powelliphanta "Lodestone"

Taxobox
name = "Powelliphanta" "Lodestone"


image_caption = A "Powelliphanta" of unknown species.
status =
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Mollusca
classis = Gastropoda
ordo = Pulmonata
familia = Rhytididae
genus = "Powelliphanta"
species = Not yet described

This is a yet-unnamed "Powelliphanta" species, provisionally known as "Powelliphanta" "Lodestone". This is one of the amber snails. It is an undescribed species of large, carnivorous land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusc in the family Rhytididae.

Distribution

This undescribed species is endemic to the South Island of New Zealand. It is found only on the Arthur Range in the Kahurangi National Park.

Habitat

This snail lives under litter and under the skirts of prickly shield fern, "Astelia nervosa", and red tussock, around the treeline at altitudes of between 1,100 and 1,400 m above sea level. This unnamed species is apparently confined to calcium-rich soils on a marble substrate.

hell description

The shell has a very low spire and a rather flattened appearance. The dorsal surface is sculptured with minute spirals, giving it a matt appearance, while the ventral surface is smooth and glossy. The background colour of the shell is a khaki-yellow, but this is overlain with numerous dark purplish-brown axial stripes. The parietal callus is smooth and dark brown.

The shell diameter is up to 41 mm, and the height is up to 18 mm.

Predators and other threats

This unnamed species is at risk of predation by thrushes and hedgehogs should the moist deep litter layer be reduced and dried out by the actions of an array of introduced mammalian pests.

Conservation status

"Powelliphanta" "Lodestone" is classified by the New Zealand Threat Classification System as "Range Restricted".

References

* Powell A W B, "New Zealand Mollusca", William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1979 ISBN 0-00-216906-1
* [http://www.doc.govt.nz/upload/documents/science-and-technical/tsrp49b.pdf Department of Conservation Recovery Plans]
* [http://www.doc.govt.nz/templates/MultipageDocumentPage.aspx?id=39593 New Zealand Department of Conservation Threatened Species Classification]