''Powelliphanta hochstetteri'', known as one of the amber snails, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

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 Terrestrial refers to things related to land or the planet Earth. Terrestrial may also refer to: * Terrestrial animal, an animal that lives on land opposed to living in water, or sometimes an animal that lives on or near the ground, as opposed to ...

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 Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Rhytididae Rhytididae is a taxonomic family of medium-sized predatory air-breathing land snails, carnivorous terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs in the superfamily Rhytidoidea. MolluscaBase eds. (2020). MolluscaBase. Rhytididae Pilsbry, 1893. Accessed ...

Distribution

This species is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to the

Marlborough Marlborough may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Marlborough, Wiltshire, England ** Marlborough College, public school * Marlborough School, Woodstock in Oxfordshire, England * The Marlborough Science Academy in Hertfordshire, England Austral ...

and

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

provinces 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 ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. There are five subspecies: Powell A. W. B., ''New Zealand Mollusca'', William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1979 * '' Powelliphanta hochstetteri anatokiensis'' Powell, 1938 * '' Powelliphanta hochstetteri bicolor'' Powell, 1930 * '' Powelliphanta hochstetteri consobrina'' Powell, 1936 * ''Powelliphanta hochstetteri hochstetteri'' ( Pfeiffer, 1862) * '' Powelliphanta hochstetteri obscura'' Beutler, 1901

Description

Powelliphanta hochstetteri hochstetteri DOC 2011

''Powelliphanta hochstetteri'' was originally described under the name ''Helix hochstetteri '' by German malacologist

Ludwig Karl Georg Pfeiffer Ludwig Karl Georg Pfeiffer, also known as Louis Pfeiffer (4 July 1805 – 2 October 1877), was a German physician, botany, botanist and conchology, conchologist. Early life, Education & Medical Career Louis Pfeiffer was born in Cassel, the eldes ...

in 1862. He described it according to the shell only, which geologist German

Ferdinand von Hochstetter Christian Gottlieb Ferdinand Ritter von Hochstetter (30 April 1829 – 18 July 1884) was a German-Austrian geologist. Career Having received his early education at the evangelical seminary at Maulbronn, Ferdinand proceeded to the University of ...

had brought from the New Zealand. The specific name ''hochstetteri'' is in honor of

Life cycle

The shape of the eggs is oval and they are seldom constant in dimensions: 12 × 10 mm. 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 1862 Endemic molluscs of New Zealand Endemic fauna of New Zealand {{Rhytididae-stub