Snail

[conchylinet]

Hello,
I found this shell beached but it seems to be a land snail. It is from mauritius and measures about 2cm.
Anybody knows it or know its family ?



Thank you
Pierre

[wolfi]

Hi Pierre,
yes, it´s a terrestrial snail, obviously familiy Streptaxidae. Should be genus Gonaxis, subgenus Macrogonaxis. Might be Gonaxis quadrilateralis (Preston, 1910), a carnivor species introduced from Africa (Kenya) to several islands in the indo-pacific area in the attempt to control the population increase of Achatina fulica, just like Euglandina rosea. The results were disastrous, concerning the effects on the local malacofauna.
Kind regards: wolf

[conchylinet]

Hi, thank you a lot for these interesting information and the identification of this invasive mollusc. Furthermore, the introduction did not seem to work, Mauritius is still packed with A. fulica...

[wolfi]

Hi,
true enough...... . Unfortunately, Gonaxis and Euglandina prefer to feed on small local (and sometimes endemic) species. What a disastrous mistake done by man...... .
Kind regards: wolf