Bermuda land snail

Bermuda land snails
Preserved specimen of †P. nelsoni at Naturalis Biodiversity Center.
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Order: Stylommatophora
Family: Gastrodontidae
Genus: Poecilozonites
O. Boettger, 1884
Species

See text.

Bermuda land snails, scientific name Poecilozonites, are an endemic genus of pulmonate land snail in the family Gastrodontidae (according to the taxonomy of the Gastropoda by Bouchet & Rocroi, 2005). 12 species are known from the fossil record, and 4 of these species (bermudensis, nelsoni, circumfirmatus, reinianus) survived into modern times, but due to the highly negative effects of human development, the extant species has been reduced down to only bermudensis and circumfirmatus.[1]

Scientists believe that Poecilozonites colonised the mid-Atlantic island of Bermuda at least 300,000 years ago. Poecilozonites makes up 95% of Bermuda's terrestrial fossils. Only one other large pulmonate, Succinea, has been found as a fossil.

  1. ^ "Poecilozonites Land Snails". The Department of Environment and Natural Resources. Retrieved 2018-01-12.

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