Carnivorous Snails

Today we went on a tour of the Stockton Coal Mine.  We had an interesting opportunity to hear about one of New Zealands threatened species of carnivorous snails.  This specific type is named Powelliphanta "Augustus".  The "Augustus" part of the name was used because the snails were originally located on Mount Augustus.  Mount Augustus is now part of the Stockton Coal Mine.  Since Solid Energy, the company that owns the coal mine, wanted to use this mountain to further their coal mining, they had to relocate the snails.  The Department of Conservation (DOC) along with local environmental enthusiasts covered Mount Augustus in order to preserve the endangered species.  The early estimates of how many snails were there was around 500 snails.  Later on, the actual number jumped all the way to 6800 snails.

Our visit to the coal mine was interesting to see the political and economic problems faced with preservation of threatened species.  Biologically, too, it is quite impressive to see the habitat change for the snails.  We watched a video about the some of the difficulties in feeding, weighing, and storing the snails.  I also think it is important to consider that the only population of these snails was found on that particular mountain.  The mountain was considered subalpine and had limited soil.  There were some native plants and vegetation but a lot of the surrounding area was covered in rock, especially sandstone and slate.

As for the snails themselves, they are considered terrestial pulmonate gastropod molluscs, in the family of Rhytididae.  They are endemic to New Zealand's Sounth Island and have only been found on the ridgeline northeast of Westport.  The species was first identified in 1996 and have already been considered critically endangered.  

Not much is known about the species specifically, because it has not been known about for a long period of time.  

In general though, these snails belong to:

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Mollusca

Class: Gastropoda 

Order: Pulmonata

Family: Rhytididae

Genus: Powelliphanta

Species: "Augustus"

*Picture is From Wikipedia