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Partula

From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Partula is a genus of land snails, constituting over 100 species of arboreal land snails native to French Polynesia and neighboring islands.

Their decline and extinction is the result of failed biological control. The giant African land snail was introduced to French Polynesia as a food source, which escaped and began destroying crops. The rosy wolfsnail was subsequently introduced to eat and eradicate the giant African land snail. It instead chose to eat the 100 species of Partula endemic to the islands, resulting in an accidental mass extinction event within French Polynesia.

Some species were successfully saved by scientists who collected the last live individuals from French Polynesia and took them into captivity for breeding. Others have been resilient enough to survive in the wild.

Notable species

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Partula affinis, which survived in a valley the rosy wolfsnail never reached. It is believed to be a closely related species to Partula otaheitana.

Partula clara, which continues to survive in some areas.

Partula exigua, the first species of Partula to become extinct, a predatory snail itself which ate other native snails. These prey snails' populations increased after its extinction. It was named for being the smallest Partula species.

Partula faba, the first species of Partula to be described, which was taken into capitivity but failed to breed. The last died in 2016.

Partula hebe, which is a successfully bred species. The last 9 snails were collected and bred, and have been reintroduced to the wild over 20 years later.

Partula hyalina, which is an extremely resilient species. It continues to survive in the prescence of the rosy wolfsnail as well as on several islands the rosy wolfsnail was not introduced to.

Partula otaheitana, the second Partula species to be described, after Partula faba. Closely related to Partula affinis.

Partula rosea and Partula varia, two species native to Huahine. These two species were used by the natives to make jewelry. Both were successfully taken into captivity and released some time after.

Partula suturalis and Partula taeniata, previously considered extinct but now considered extant because of taxonomic changes. Initially they were each confined to one subspecies, P. s. suturalis and P. t. taeniata, both extinct, but since then other species have been demoted to subspecies under these two species, resulting in their "de-extinction".

Partula turgida, the first known extinction due to a parasite. Was taken into the breeding program but all snails were killed by a parasite that infested the breeding chamber.

Surviving species

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This is a complete list of the surviving species.

Surviving Partula species
Island Species IUCN Status
Tahiti Partula affinis Critically Endangered Reintroduction supported
Partula clara Critically Endangered Relict
Partula hyalina Vulnerable Reintroduction supported
Partula nodosa Extinct in the Wild Reintroduced
Partula otaheitana Critically Endangered Relict
Moorea

(Mo'orea)

Partula mirabilis Extinct in the Wild Reintroduced
Partula mooreana Extinct in the Wild Reintroduced
Partula suturalis Extinct in the Wild Reintroduced
Partula taeniata Critically Endangered Reintroduction supported
Partula tohiveana Extinct in the Wild Reintroduced
Huahine Partula rosea Extinct in the Wild Reintroduced
Partula varia Extinct in the Wild Reintroduced
Raiatea Partula garrettii Extinct in the Wild Reintroduced
Partula hebe Extinct in the Wild Reintroduced
Partula navigatoria Extinct in the Wild Reintroduced

Reintroductions

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P. garrettii was misidentified as P. tristis for some time, and P. navigatoria was misidentified as P. dentifera.

Partula reintroductions[1]
Species IUCN 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 Total
Tahiti
Partula affinis CR 48 201 129 240 182 800
Partula hyalina VU 1 8 90 71 12 182
Partula nodosa EW 220 877 1,777 - 2,528 5,402
Moorea
Partula mirabilis EW - - - 10 60 70
Partula mooreana EW - 592 344 - - 936
Partula suturalis strigosa EW - - - - - 0
Partula suturalis vexillum EW - 374 290 171 210 1,045
Partula taeniata nucleola CR - 100 206 201 219 726
Partula taeniata simulans CR - 67 - 549 360 976
Partula tohiveana EW - 639 950 766 710 3,065
Huahine
Partula rosea EW - - - - 1,896 1,896
Partula varia EW - - - - 522 522
Raiatea
Partula garrettii EW - 38 - - - 38
Partula hebe EW - 81 - - - 81
Partula navigatoria EW - 96 - - - 96

Species list

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All species of Partula within the Society Islands are listed here, sorted by island:

  1. Partula affinis
  2. Partula clara
  3. Partula compressa
  4. Partula cytherea
  5. Partula diminuta
  6. Partula hyalina
  7. Partula incrassa
    1. Partula incrassa exigua
    2. Partula incrassa incrassa
  8. Partula jackieburchi
  9. Partula laevigata
  10. Partula nodosa
  11. Partula otaheitana
  1. Partula aurantia
  2. Partula mirabilis
  3. Partula mooreana
  4. Partula suturalis
    1. Partula suturalis strigosa
    2. Partula suturalis vexillum
  5. Partula taeniata
    1. Partula taeniata elongata
    2. Partula taeniata nucleola
    3. Partula taeniata simulans
  6. Partula tohiveana
  1. Partula arguta
  2. Partula rosea
  3. Partula varia
  1. Partula bilineata
  2. Partula eremita
  3. Partula planilabrum
  4. Partula sagitta
  5. Partula umbilicata
  1. Partula lutea

References

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