Banded dune snail

The banded dune snail or Morro shoulderband, scientific name Helminthoglypta walkeriana, is a species of air-breathing land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusc in the family Helminthoglyptidae.

Banded dune snail
Helminthoglypta walkeriana

Critically Endangered  (IUCN 2.3)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Mollusca
Class:
Gastropoda
(unranked):
clade Heterobranchia
clade Euthyneura
clade Panpulmonata
clade Eupulmonata
clade Stylommatophora
informal group Sigmurethra
Superfamily:
Helicoidea
Family:
Helminthoglyptidae
Genus:
Helminthoglypta
Species:
H. walkeriana
Binomial name
Helminthoglypta walkeriana
(Hemphill, 1911)

This species is endemic to Morro Bay and the central coast in San Luis Obispo County and Santa Barbara County, in California, the United States.

Taxonomy

At the time the species was divided into two subtaxa (subspecies or varieties): H. w. walkeriana and *H. w. morroensis
The latter was thought to be extinct but was rediscovered.

In 2004, it was elevated to species status as Helminthoglypta morroensis and it inherited the endangered status it had when it was part of Helminthoglypta walkeriana.

Both snails together were known as the banded dune snail. Today H. walkeriana is the Morro shoulderband, and H. morroensis is the Chorro shoulderband.[2]

Conservation

This snail was placed on the United States' Endangered Species List in 1994.

The USFWS recommends that the Morro shoulderband be downlisted to threatened status and the Chorro shoulderband be delisted.[2]

References
  1. Roth, B. (1996). Helminthoglypta walkeriana. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Archived June 27, 2014, at the Wayback Machine Downloaded on 7 August 2007.
  2. USFWS. Morro Shoulderband and Chorro Shoulderband Five-year Review. September 2006.


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