Kingdom Animalia Family Bothriembryontidae Genus Placostylus Phylum Mollusca Rank Species | Superfamily Orthalicoidea Subfamily Placostylinae Scientific name Placostylus bollonsi Higher classification Placostylus | |
Lower classifications Placostylus bollonsi bollonsi, Placostylus bollonsi arbutus, Placostylus bollonsi caperatus | ||
The New Zealand flax snail or pupuharakeke, scientific name Placostylus bollonsi, is a species of air-breathing land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusc in the family Bothriembryontidae.
This species is endemic to the Three Kings Islands group off the northern tip of New Zealand's North Island.
Subspecies
A number of subspecies are recognised; Placostylus bollonsi arbutus and P. b. bollonsi are classified by the New Zealand Department of Conservation as being Nationally Endangered, while Placostylus bollonsi caperatus is classified as Nationally Critical.
Buckley et al. (2011) found based on molecular phylogeny research and shell morphology research, that there are no subspecies of Placostylus bollonsi.
References
New Zealand flax snail Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA