The endangered partulid tree snail Samoana thurstoni (Cooke and Crampton, 1930) on Olosega and the land snail diversity of the Manu`a islands, American Samoa
Cowie RH, Rundell RJ, Mika F, Setu P. 2002. The endangered partulid tree snail Samoana thurstoni (Cooke and Crampton, 1930) on Olosega and the land snail diversity of the Manu`a islands, American Samoa. American Malacological Bulletin. 17(1/2):37-43
Field study work was conducted on Olosega in February and April 2001. The study work increased the known land snail fauna of the island from 6 to 30 species, 17 are native to the islands, and 13 are introduced. Most notable was the discovery of Samoana thurstoni (Cooke and Crampton, 1930) (Partulidae), previously considered an Ofu endemic. The report also provides a faunal inventory for island based on these new collections and on earlier collecting, and compares the land snail fauna of Olosega with the faunas of the other Manu`a islands. Official Abstract: Survey work on the American Samoan island of Olosega, one of the three Manu' a Islands (Ta'u, Ofu, Olosega), increased the known land snail fauna of the island from 6 to 30 species. Of these species, 17 are native to the islands and 13 are introduced. Most notable was the discovery of Samoana thur.rtnni (Cooke and Crampton, 1930) (Partulidae). previously considered an Ofu endemic. The entire land snail fauna of Manu'a is composed of 45 species, with 40 on Ta'u. 32 on Ofu, and 30 on Olosega. The three islands have 23 species in common. Endemism is low. Each island appears to have a random subset of the total species, though this may partly reflect a need for further survey work as well as true randomness in the natural construction of the faunas. While some native species seem to be extinct, others are surviving. However, the faunas of all three islands, especially the ground-level faunas, are dominated by alien species, notably specie.~ of Subulinidae. That such a relatively accessible island as Olosega should yield so many new records suggests that additional survey work is necessary throughout much of the Pacific before we can have the baseline inventory of Pacific land snail biodiversity necessary for its conservation.
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Cowie, Robert; Rundell, Rebecca; Mika, Falaniko; Setu, Pasia
- Units
- NPSA , PACN
- Keywords
- American Samoa, Animal Studies, Biodiversity, Conservation, Gastropod (land snail), Invertebrates, Manua islands, Partulidae, Samoana