Rosy wolfsnail introduction, Moorea (French Polynesia)
- All nine of my Moorea Partula species were extinct in the wild by 1987. Pacific Science / University of Hawaii ScholarSpace
A predatory snail was introduced to Moorea to control the giant African snail. A University of Hawaii record states that it ended the island's endemic Partula tree snails in the wild.
By 1987, according to the University of Hawaii record cited.
Status As of the latest source reviewed (Pacific Science record, 1984, with a 1987 extinction-in-the-wild date): all nine Moorea Partula species extinct in the wild.
- Moorea's endemic Partula tree snails (nine species) — Extinct in the wild by 1987 Pacific Science / University of Hawaii ScholarSpace
- Moorea's endemic Partula tree snails — Extinction in the wild Pacific Science / University of Hawaii ScholarSpace
What happened
The rosy wolfsnail (Euglandina), a predatory snail, was brought to Moorea, French Polynesia, to control the giant African snail. The sources reviewed do not say who released it or in which year.
According to a record in the University of Hawaii ScholarSpace (Pacific Science, 1984), the predatory snail ended the endemic snails in the wild. The same record is cited for the finding that all nine of Moorea's Partula tree-snail species were extinct in the wild by 1987 and that control of the target snail could not be demonstrated.
One summary gives the predator's advance across the island as about 1.2 kilometres a year. Another summary links the predatory snail to the extinction of at least 134 land-snail species in the Pacific between 1955 and 2024; that figure comes and was not checked against a primary source.
- 1984Pacific Science paper on the predatory snail and Moorea's endemic snails (University of Hawaii ScholarSpace record)
- 1987All nine Moorea Partula species extinct in the wild, according to the record cited
How it looked
Shown
Recorded
- A predatory snail introduced against the giant African snail ended Moorea's endemic Partula snails in the wild; control of the target snail could not be demonstrated.
- All nine Moorea Partula species were extinct in the wild by 1987.
In court and with insurers
Lawsuits and rulings
Insurers
What nature saw
Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.
What we don't know
Figures
- Insufficient Species extinct associated: Pacific, 1955 to 2024;, not checked against a primary source.
Record
- None on record Who released the predatory snail on Moorea and in which year: the sources reviewed do not say.
- Unclear Whether the predatory snail controlled the giant African snail: no evidence of control could be demonstrated, according to the record cited.
- Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: the predatory snail is linked to the extinction of at least 134 land-snail species in the Pacific, 1955 to 2024.
- Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: a warning against the introduction was not heeded.
Did the harm stop?
Not assessed in the sources reviewed.
Who paid?
Not established in the sources reviewed.
Sources
Researchers
- Pacific Science article on the predatory snail and endemic snails of Moorea (ScholarSpace record)Pacific Science / University of Hawaii ScholarSpace · 1984