green shell with yellow banding - indentification help?

[paul monfils]

This is a land snail - actually a tree snail - Papustyla pulcherrima, which comes from only one place in the world as far as I know - Manus Island in New Guinea.  The species is on the international endangered species list, which makes it illegal to import or sell it.  It is considered endangered not because it is rare in its natural habitat (actually it is very common there), but because its natural habitat is so limited.  It is the habitat that is actually endangered, but of course if the habitat is destroyed, so are the snails.  There was quite a demand for this unique shell, not just by shell collectors but especially by the jewelry and shell craft industries.  As a result, the native people of Manus would cut down the trees in order to collect the snails that live in them.  One account I read stated that about 1/3 of the trees on the island had already been cut down before the snails were declared endangered, thereby closing the market - at least the legal market - for the shells.  <span class="petit">--Last edited by Paul Monfils on 2009-07-20 05:05:16 --</span>