''Powelliphanta gilliesi'', one of the "amber snails", is a species of large, carnivorous

land snail A land snail is any of the numerous species of snail that live on land, as opposed to the sea snails and freshwater snails. ''Land snail'' is the common name for terrestrial gastropod mollusks that have shells (those without shells are known as ...

, a terrestrial

pulmonate Pulmonata or pulmonates, is an informal group (previously an order, and before that a subclass) of snails and slugs characterized by the ability to breathe air, by virtue of having a pallial lung instead of a gill, or gills. The group includ ...

gastropod The gastropods (), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, from freshwater, and from land. T ...

mollusc Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is esti ...

in the family Rhytididae.

Distribution

This species is endemic to the West Nelson area of the

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

of New Zealand. There are nine subspecies, some of which are listed by the New Zealand Department of Conservation: *''Powelliphanta gilliesi aurea'' Powell, 1946 *''Powelliphanta gilliesi brunnea'' Powell, 1938 *''Powelliphanta gilliesi compta'' Powell, 1930 – ''Nationally Vulnerable'' *''Powelliphanta gilliesi fallax'' Powell, 1930 – ''National Decline'' *''Powelliphanta gilliesi gilliesi'' Smith, 1880 *''Powelliphanta gilliesi jamesoni'' Powell, 1936 *''Powelliphanta gilliesi kahurangica'' Powell, 1936 *''Powelliphanta gilliesi montana'' Powell, 1936 *''Powelliphanta gilliesi subfusca'' Powell, 1930 – ''Gradual Decline''

Life cycle

The eggs of this species are oval in shape and are seldom constant in dimensions, varying from , to , and . O'Connor A. C. (June) 1945. ''Notes on the Eggs of New Zealand Paryphantidae, With Description of a New Subgenus.'' Transactions of the Royal Society of New Zealand, volume 5, 1945-46, page
54
57.

References

Powelliphanta Gastropods described in 1880 Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN Endemic fauna of New Zealand Endemic molluscs of New Zealand {{Rhytididae-stub