A group of Year 7 students at Samford State School have been learning about native snails in their local area. Mt Glorious in South-east Queensland.
They have developed dichotomous keys. Here’s the key for the Richmond River Keeled Snail, Thersites richmondiana
The Snail Whisperer joined a group of scientists on the Bush Blitz at Carnarvon Station this week. Bush Blitz is Australia’s largest nature discovery project.
Early indications are that at least 6 new species of land snails have been discovered during the survey.
One of the new species-Simon Hudson’s Woodland Snail (Pallidelix simonhudsoni Stanisic, 2015)
Read Alison Wilson’s story of the fun they had collecting snails and finding new species. Alison and Chris are the managers of Carnarvon Station Reserve
Watch this space for more!
Snails are born with rudimentary shells. On land snails, this embryonic shell can be seen even in the adult snail. The top of the shell [about one and a half whorls] is called the Protoconch and this has a different pattern from the rest of the shell. It is often used to help identify species of snail.
The protoconch is easily visible even on this tiny pinwheel snail from eastern Australia
Facts About Snails 