Partula spp. from Society Islands. Photo Credit: Marc Agren

In a short, but sweet, paper by Lee et al. published in the Current Biology, there is a “glimmer of hope” for montane tahitian tree snails (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Partulidae, Partula spp.). They examined the mitochondrial haplotype diversity of tree snail specimens locked away in museum drawers from 1970 and compared that to individuals from the wild and in captivity between 2004 and 2005.

They discovered that all the major clades from 1970 were present, though severely winnowed, in modern day captive or wild populations. If that weren’t enough to get the conservation junkies jumping up and down, they observed that 4 out of the 5 main Partula clades persisted on mountaintop refuges. This allows conservation efforts for Tahiti’s tree snails a hot-spot focal point to conserve the genetic diversity of the Partula lineage.

“Only a few years ago, it looked like the sole survivors from this radiation would be the captive populations that have been painstakingly established and maintained for decades in European and American zoos. Our new study indicates that it may be possible to maintain genetically representative remnant wild populations on Tahiti, the largest Society Island, although this will require proactive conservation measures.” – Coauthor Diarmaid Ó Foighil, University of Michigan – Ann Arbor (quoted from EurekAlert!)

This also represents the extreme importance of museum collections to conservation. Without proper vouchering and preservation techniques employed by museum staff, the 1970 snails wouldn’t have been available to help clarify this conundrum.

The plight of the tree snail was not a light one. Of all the partulid tree snails, 61 species were described from the Society Islands. Today, only 5 remain. The culprit? The carnivorous rosy wolf snail (Euglandina rosea, right), an invasive species brought in to control another invasive snail from Africa (which was coincidentally brought over as a potential food source).

“Natural history museum collections represent time-islands of biological diversity whose real value only becomes apparent in the long run. Jack Burch went to Tahiti in 1970 as a museum curator engaged in basic collection-oriented research. At the time, his Tahitian tree snail collections did not have any special conservation value. They are now priceless.”-Diarmaid Ó Foighil (quoted from EurekAlert!)

Go out and support your local natural history museum today! You never know what that $10 admission will do to help conserve your favorite species and how it may advance our understanding of the complex global ecosystem. Better yet, become a member, volunteer and participate in museum activities. Be a part of something great!

LEE, T., BURCH, J., JUNG, Y., COOTE, T., PEARCE-KELLY, P., & Ó FOIGHIL, D. (2007). Tahitian tree snail mitochondrial clades survived recent mass extirpation Current Biology, 17 (13) DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2007.05.006

This post was originally posted by me July 3, 2007 at The Other 95%.