North-East Forest Snail

North-East Forest Snail (Anoglypta launcestonensis) is a large, top-shaped native land snail found only in the wet forest of north-eastern Tasmania. Described soon after the land was surveyed in 1853, Anoglypta remained rare and elusive until into the 1990s. It was listed as 'endangered' by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources and the state Threatened Species Register, and was used as a reason to argue against logging operations in the area. A survey showed that, although it was still hard to find, it occurred in a number of separate localities. These data were used to have its name removed from the threatened species register, the first species so removed. Its anatomy and relationships were elucidated in 1988.

Further reading: L Reeve, 'Monograph of the genus Helix ', in L Reeve (ed) Conchologia Iconica 7, London, 1853; R Kershaw, 'A study of the Caryodidae (Pulmonata)…', in Records of the Queen Victoria Museum 93, Launceston, 1988; S Bryant & J Jackson, Tasmania's threatened fauna handbook, [Hobart], 1999.