Aldabra banded snail  (Rachistia aldabra)

Description

This once abundant snail is thought to have fallen victim to the direct impacts of climate change (2) (3). The Aldabra banded snail belongs to one of the most successful groups of land snails, the Pulmonata, of which there are a great number of species inhabiting a wide range of habitats (4). These land snails all possess a coiled shell into which the body can retract (4). The shell of this species is an attractive pattern of orange and bluish-purple bands against a dark background (3). The Pulmonata, the name of which arises from the Latin word for lung, all have a mantle cavity that is modified into a lung, and breath through a small opening called the pneumostome (5).

left