Mitchell's rainforest snail, scientific name Thersites mitchellae, is a species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 of large, air-breathing land snail

Snail

Snail is a common name applied to most of the members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have coiled shells in the adult stage. When the word is used in its most general sense, it includes sea snails, land snails and freshwater snails. The word snail without any qualifier is however more often...

, a terrestrial

Terrestrial animal

Terrestrial animals are animals that live predominantly or entirely on land , as compared with aquatic animals, which live predominantly or entirely in the water , or amphibians, which rely on a combination of aquatic and terrestrial habitats...

 pulmonate gastropod mollusc in the family Camaenidae

Camaenidae

Camaenidae is a family of air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Helicoidea.This is one of the most diverse families in the clade Stylommatophora....

.

This species is native to Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. It is an endangered species.

Description

The shell of this species measures up to 5.5cm across and is reddish brown to black with two distinct yellow bands. The visible soft parts of the animal are black.

Ecology

While it prefers and enjoys palm and fig trees, the Mitchell’s rainforest snail is usually traveling along the forest floor among fallen leaves or under the bark on many trees. This nocturnal animal feeds upon leaf litter, fungi and lichen, making these substances its primary diet. Despite the fact the Mitchell’s rainforest snail is nocturnal, it can be spotted year-round and has no specific season in which it may disappear or hibernate

Distribution and Threats

The snail used to be commonly found in rainforests and swampy parts of northern coastal lowlands and prefers palms and fig trees within rainforests. It also used to be found throughout coastal floodplain wetlands, coastal swamp forests, eastern riverine forests, littoral rainforests, northern warm temperate rainforests, and subtropical rainforests.

Unfortunately, the Thersites mitchellae, or the Mitchell's rainforest snail is on the endangered species list due to numerous threats. These threats include, but are not limited to animals that have been introduced to the snail’s small habitat such as rats and birds. Other major threats consist of the use of herbicides and pesticides, fires, weed invasion, and is also largely tied to deforestation. This critically endangered snail is now largely restricted to a range of less than 5 km² of remnant lowland rainforest, scattered around the Tweed, Byron

Byron Shire

Byron Shire is a Local Government Area located in the North Coast region of New South Wales, Australia, on the Pacific Ocean coast between 50 and 80 kilometres south of the Queensland border. The shire, administered from the town of Mullumbimby, covers an area of , and has existed as a local...

 and Ballina Shires of northern New South Wales. A significant population can still be found on the Stotts Island Nature Reserve on the Tweed River. Scientists believe that less than 500 mature individuals remain in the wild.

External links

• Mitchell's Rainforest Snail Teaching Resources for Primary Schools (by the Foundation for National Parks & Widllife)