Kingdom Animalia Class Gastropoda Family Bothriembryontidae | Phylum Mollusca Superfamily Orthalicoidea Subfamily Placostylinae | |
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Placostylus ambagiosus is a species of flax snail (Māori: pupuharakeke), a large air-breathing land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusc in the family Bothriembryontidae.
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Description
This snail has a large (60–95 millimetres or 2.4–3.7 inches long) shell, which is heavily calcified.
Distribution
This land snail species occurs in New Zealand. It is restricted to a small fragmented area of Northland Region, including the Aupouri Peninsula and Motuopao Island.
Hypothetical subspecies
In 2011, Buckley et al. established, based on molecular phylogeny research and shell morphology research, that there are in fact no subspecies of Placostylus ambagiosus. However, in the past, what were thought to be eight extant subspecies and a number of undescribed but distinct populations were named; 6 of these "subspecies" are now extinct (marked with a †); conservation statuses were given according to the New Zealand Threat Classification System for the extant taxa: "nationally critical" and "nationally endangered":