Powelliphanta hochstetteri
Encyclopedia
Powelliphanta hochstetteri, known as one of the amber snails, 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, carnivorous 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
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 Rhytididae
Rhytididae
Rhytididae is a taxonomic family of medium-sized predatory air-breathing land snails, carnivorous terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs in the superfamily Rhytidoidea.This family has no subfamilies.-Anatomy:...

.

Distribution

This species is endemic
Endemic (ecology)
Endemism is the ecological state of being unique to a defined geographic location, such as an island, nation or other defined zone, or habitat type; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsewhere. For example, all species of lemur are endemic to the...

 to the Marlborough
Marlborough Province
The Marlborough Province operated as a province of New Zealand from 1859 until the abolition of provincial government in 1876. The province of Marlborough split away from Nelson Province on 1 November 1859.-History:...

 and Nelson
Nelson, New Zealand
Nelson is a city on the eastern shores of Tasman Bay, and is the economic and cultural centre of the Nelson-Tasman region. Established in 1841, it is the second oldest settled city in New Zealand and the oldest in the South Island....

 provinces of the South Island
South Island
The South Island is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand, the other being the more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman Sea, to the south and east by the Pacific Ocean...

 of New Zealand.

There are five subspecies:
  • Powelliphanta hochstetteri anatokiensis
    Powelliphanta hochstetteri anatokiensis
    Powelliphanta hochstetteri anatokiensis, known as one of the amber snails, is a subspecies of large, carnivorous land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusc in the family Rhytididae.-Conservation status:...

    Powell
    Arthur William Baden Powell
    Dr Arthur William Baden Powell CBE was a New Zealand malacologist, naturalist and palaeontologist, a major influence in the study and classification of New Zealand molluscs through much of the twentieth century. He was known to his friends and family by his third name, "Baden".Powell was born at...

    , 1938
  • Powelliphanta hochstetteri bicolor
    Powelliphanta hochstetteri bicolor
    Powelliphanta hochstetteri bicolor, known as one of the amber snails, is a subspecies of large, carnivorous land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusc in the family Rhytididae.- Life cycle :...

    Powell
    Arthur William Baden Powell
    Dr Arthur William Baden Powell CBE was a New Zealand malacologist, naturalist and palaeontologist, a major influence in the study and classification of New Zealand molluscs through much of the twentieth century. He was known to his friends and family by his third name, "Baden".Powell was born at...

    , 1930
  • Powelliphanta hochstetteri consobrina
    Powelliphanta hochstetteri consobrina
    Powelliphanta hochstetteri consobrina, known as one of the amber snails, is a subspecies of large, carnivorous land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusc in the family Rhytididae.- Life cycle :...

    Powell
    Arthur William Baden Powell
    Dr Arthur William Baden Powell CBE was a New Zealand malacologist, naturalist and palaeontologist, a major influence in the study and classification of New Zealand molluscs through much of the twentieth century. He was known to his friends and family by his third name, "Baden".Powell was born at...

    , 1936
  • Powelliphanta hochstetteri hochstetteri (Pfeiffer
    Ludwig Karl Georg Pfeiffer
    Ludwig Karl Georg Pfeiffer, also known as Louis Pfeiffer was a German physician, botanist and conchologist.-Biography:He received his education in Kassel, and became professor of pathology there in 1828...

    , 1862)
  • Powelliphanta hochstetteri obscura
    Powelliphanta hochstetteri obscura
    Powelliphanta hochstetteri obscura, known as one of the amber snails, is a subspecies of large, carnivorous land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusc in the family Rhytididae.- Life cycle :...

    Beutler, 1901

Description

Powelliphanta hochstetteri was originally described under the name Helix Hochstetteri by German malacologist Ludwig Karl Georg Pfeiffer
Ludwig Karl Georg Pfeiffer
Ludwig Karl Georg Pfeiffer, also known as Louis Pfeiffer was a German physician, botanist and conchologist.-Biography:He received his education in Kassel, and became professor of pathology there in 1828...

 in 1862. He described it according to the shell only, which geologist German Ferdinand von Hochstetter
Ferdinand von Hochstetter
Christian Gottlieb Ferdinand Ritter von Hochstetter was a German geologist.He was born at Esslingen, Württemberg, the son of Christian Ferdinand Friedrich Hochstetter , a clergyman and professor at Bonn, who was also a botanist and mineralogist...

 had brought from the New Zealand. The specific name hochstetteri is in honor of Ferdinand von Hochstetter
Ferdinand von Hochstetter
Christian Gottlieb Ferdinand Ritter von Hochstetter was a German geologist.He was born at Esslingen, Württemberg, the son of Christian Ferdinand Friedrich Hochstetter , a clergyman and professor at Bonn, who was also a botanist and mineralogist...

.
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