Why Snails?

This is the first question that I am asked by many people when they find out that I’m a snail biologist. Well, I hope I can convince you that there are many, many excellent reasons for my fascination with these tiny creatures! 

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First of all, land snails are the group with the highest number of extinctions worldwide. That’s right, there are more land snails extinct than there are mammals, birds, reptiles or any other group. Terrestrial snails tend to have very narrow ranges, in part due to their poor dispersal ability, and so many species are restricted to very small areas. This increases their susceptibility to habitat loss or disturbance, or the introduction of exotic predators.

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There are many unique snail species and much of their biodiversity is still undescribed. There are around 1,000 described species known from Australia, but we estimate that there are still hundreds left undescribed (and many more worldwide). Even the species that have been formally named are, in many cases, very poorly known. For example, we might not have a clear idea of their distribution, their habitat preferences, their biology, the appearance of their body (if the original description was based only on the shell), their phylogenetic relationships or their conservation status. One of my main roles is to discover, collate and publish this information, formally describing new species where necessary, to inform conservation and land management.

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The work that I do is fascinating, challenging and meaningful, and it’s very exciting to see that it is possible to make a real difference in saving these unique species from extinction.