The Disappearance of Native Hawaiian Snails

Hawai‘i was once home to over 750 species of native land snails. Sadly most of them are now extinct or nearly so. They have disappeared because:

Polynesian settlers cleared lowland vegetation, the home for many snails.
European settlers introduced aliens that preyed upon the snails.
Shell collectors had a serious affect on snail populations.
Increased urban construction has crowded out native snails.
Additional introductions, like the Cannibal Snail, further depleted the populations of native snails.

Achatinella sowerbyana

Very few species of the once plentiful Hawaiian Tree Snails are alive today. These pictures show some of the few survivors.

Native Hawaiian Tree Snails do little damage to the plants they live on. They eat fungus from the surface of leaves. To do this, they use a scraping structure in their mouth, called a radula.

Partulina mighelsiana bella

Every Hawaiian Tree Snail is both a male and female at the same time. They are all able to give birth to young.

Achatinella lila

Tree snails give birth to only one or two babies a year... a very low reproduction rate. Hungry alien predators, like cannibal snails and rats, are depleting their population.

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