Partula tohiveana

The tree snail

Partula tohiveana is a tree snail in the family Partulidae (order Stylommatophora).

Range and habitat

Partula tohiveana, the Tohiea tree snail, is a partulid endemic to Moorea, and therefore one of several species with the common name Moorean viviparous tree snail. It is endemic to highlands on Moorea, French Polynesia.

In September 2024, following a reintroduction campaign by Cambridge University and several zoos across the world, "born in the wild" snails have been observed for the first time in 40 years, thus, the species is officially considered re-established.

Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.

Diet

Partula snails graze micro-algae and fungi on leaves at night. They do not recover once a predator snail is established on the island.

Snails move on a single foot and feed with a rasping tongue. Island and spring species rarely recolonise once the site is emptied.

In crisis

It is now critically endangered, where it had previously been extinct in the wild since the 1980s. Partula tohiveana is the first invertebrate species to successfully be re-established following an Extinct in the Wild IUCN status.

The rosy wolfsnail and habitat clearing are the documented wrecking ball for Partula on Pacific islands.

Partula tohiveana is Critically Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.

Sources

Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Partula tohiveana, Wikidata item Q2707541. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.