Wellington, New Zealand — The unusual reproductive habits of a large, carnivorous New Zealand snail were erstwhile shrouded successful mystery. Now, footage of the snail laying an ovum from its cervix has been captured for the archetypal time, the country's conservation bureau said Wednesday.
What looks similar a tiny hen's ovum is seen emerging from an opening beneath the caput of the Powelliphanta augusta snail, a threatened taxon endemic to New Zealand.
In this representation made from video, a Powelliphanta augusta snail lays an ovum from its cervix astatine the Hokitika Snail Housing installation connected Sept. 18, 2024 successful Hokitika, New Zealand.
Lisa Flanagan / New Zealand Department of Conservation via AP
The video was taken astatine a installation connected the South Island's West Coast, wherever conservation rangers attempting to prevention the taxon from extinction person cared for a colonisation of the snails successful chilled containers for astir 2 decades.
The conditions successful the containers mimic the alpine upwind successful their lone erstwhile situation - a distant upland they were named for, connected the West Coast of the South Island, that has been engulfed by mining.
Lisa Flanagan from the Department of Conservation, who has worked with the creatures for 12 years, said the taxon inactive holds surprises.
"It's singular that successful each the clip we've spent caring for the snails, this is the archetypal clip we've seen 1 laic an egg," she said successful a statement.
Like different snails, Powelliphanta augusta are hermaphrodites, which explains however the creatures tin reproduce erstwhile encased successful a hard shell. The invertebrate uses a genital pore connected the close broadside of its body, conscionable beneath the head, to simultaneously speech sperm with different snail, which is stored until each creates an egg.
Each snail takes 8 years to scope intersexual maturity, aft which it lays astir 5 eggs a year. The ovum tin instrumentality much than a twelvemonth to hatch.
"Some of our captive snails are betwixt 25 and 30 years old," said Flanagan. "They're polar opposites to the pest plot snail we introduced to New Zealand, which is similar a weed, with thousands of offspring each twelvemonth and a abbreviated life."
The dozens of taxon and subspecies of Powelliphanta snails are lone recovered successful New Zealand, mostly successful rugged wood and grassland settings wherever they're threatened by situation loss.
They're carnivores that slurp up earthworms similar noodles and are immoderate of the world's largest snails with oversized, distinctive shells successful a scope of affluent world colors and swirling patterns.
The Powelliphanta augusta was the halfway of nationalist uproar and ineligible proceedings successful the aboriginal 2000s, erstwhile an vigor company's plans to excavation for ember threatened to destruct the snails' habitat.
Some 4,000 were removed from the tract and relocated, portion 2,000 much were housed successful chilled retention successful the West Coast municipality of Hokitika to guarantee the preservation of the species, which is dilatory to breed and doesn't accommodate good to caller habitats.
In 2011, immoderate 800 of the snails accidentally died successful a Department of Conservation refrigerator with faulty somesthesia control.
But the species' dilatory endurance continues: In March this year, determination were astir 1,900 snails and astir 2,200 eggs successful captivity, the conservation bureau said.
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