Paryphanta

Paryphanta is a genus of land snails in the family Rhytididae. Species from New Zealand are known commonly as kauri snails or pupurangi. They are closely related and similar to snails in the genus Powelliphanta, which was formerly included within Paryphanta.

There are just two species of Paryphanta, Paryphanta busbyi, and Paryphanta watti occur from North Cape to West Auckland.

The watti form occurs only at the extreme northern end of this range and near Kaeo. This form is of much darker colouration and often smaller, although they do reach the same sizes as [Paryphanta Busbyi] if allowed to reach old age.

Both species are nocturnal and along some roads you can hear the crunching of the shells under the tires of the vehicle, quite saddening.

There was an accident in a New Zealand DOC lab that killed nearly one thousand live Kauri Snails when someone turned the settings down on the freezer that was keeping the snails calm for research. No research has shown that their slime is acidic but some individuals who have handled Kauri Snails claim that their slime is acidic enough to burn hands after prolonged contact.