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

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

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 molluscs, terrestrial gastropod mollusks that have gastropod shell, shel ...

, a

terrestrial Terrestrial refers to things related to land or the planet Earth, as opposed to extraterrestrial. 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 o ...

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 inclu ...

gastropod Gastropods (), commonly known as slugs and snails, belong to a large Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, freshwater, and fro ...

mollusc Mollusca is a phylum of protostome, protostomic invertebrate animals, whose members are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 76,000 extant taxon, extant species of molluscs are recognized, making it the second-largest animal phylum ...

in the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Rhytididae Rhytididae is a Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic family (biology), family of medium-sized predatory air-breathing land snails, carnivorous terrestrial molluscs, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod Mollusca, molluscs in the superfamily Rhytidoidea.Mollus ...

Distribution

This species is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only 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 foun ...

to the West

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 ...

area of the

South Island The South Island ( , 'the waters of Pounamu, Greenstone') is the largest of the three major islands of New Zealand by surface area, the others being the smaller but more populous North Island and Stewart Island. It is bordered to the north by ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. There are nine subspecies, some of which are listed by the

New Zealand Department of Conservation The Department of Conservation (DOC; Māori language, Māori: ''Te Papa Atawhai'') is the public service department of New Zealand charged with the conservation of New Zealand's natural and historical heritage. An advisory body, the New Zealand ...

: *''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 rarely 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