The iron-shelled high temperature deep sea hydrothermic vent snail! Best costume ever.
#SnailSaturday
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#SnailSaturday
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Time to reinstate #SnailSaturday 👇
#AdoreSnails
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It is reported that based on geography, snails often hibernate or estivate in order to escape from warm climates.
#ScienceSaturday
#ScienceFacts
#SnailSaturday
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A child compares akaleha’ shells to other kinds of snail shells with Dr. Teresa Rose Osborne at the Gilita Festival on Rota Island.
Dr. Teresa Rose Osborne shows local Rota children a slide of an akaleha’ shell purse at the CNMI Department of Community & Cultural Affairs Division of Youth Services Back2School Summer Youth Empowerment Camp.
Dr. Teresa Rose Osborne virtually presents “Food & Shade: Habitat characteristics and host plant preferences of the single-island endemic Pacific Island tree snail Partula lutaensis (Stylommatophora: Partulidae)” at the World Congress of Malacology 2025 in Brazil.
7. We expanded local & international akaleha' tree snail outreach
Local 🇲🇵
Info booth at Rota festivals
Taught kids at a Rota summer camp
Int'l 🌏
Akaleha' habitat data at World Congress of Malacology
Taught kids in China with @skypeascientist.bsky.social
#InverteFest #JoyOfMolluscs #SnailSaturday
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Achatinella decipiens Newcomb, 1854 (alt text from Wikimedia)
Achatinella decipiens is a species of air-breathing land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Achatinellidae.
IUCN status: Critically Endangered
#SnailSaturday
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Reposted for #SnailSaturday
Spoiler alert: the leaf won.
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Omphalotropis snail crawling on moss.
At first glance, Omphalotropis snails can also look like baby akaleha’, but Omphalotropis shells are pointier and have more whorls
#InverteFest #SnailSaturday #JoyOfMolluscs 🐌 4/4
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Two Elasmias shells as viewed under a microscope, on top of a mm ruler. The larger of the two shells is just over 2 mm in shell height. A small projection called an apertural tooth is visible in the shell opening.
Under a microscope, Elasmias look very different from baby akaleha’. Elasmias have transparent shells and “teeth” in the shell opening
🔬
But since I can’t collect baby akaleha’ to look at them under a scope (they’re endangered), this doesn’t help!
#InverteFest #SnailSaturday #JoyOfMolluscs 🐌 3/4
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Juvenile Partula lutaensis hanging from a palm frond, next to a mm ruler. The snail is about 5 mm in shell height.
Elasmias crawling on a leaf, next to a mm ruler. The snail is about 3 mm in shell height.
In the field, baby akaleha’ can look similar to Elasmias snails. The largest Elasmias are ~2 mm vs the baby akaleha’ are ~4 mm. Somehow, it’s even harder for me to tell them apart in photos - even with a ruler 📏
#InverteFest #SnailSaturday #JoyOfMolluscs 🐌 2/4
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Juvenile Partula lutaensis on the underside of a leaf, with one tentacle extended.
Sometimes, I confuse baby akaleha’ (Mariana Islands tree snails in Family Partulidae) with other, smaller species
Here’s what a baby akaleha’ looks like 👶🐌
#InverteFest #SnailSaturday #JoyOfMolluscs 1/4
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Small snail on brown seedhead of a flower, against blurred background of other flowers and grasses
Small brown snail on purple flower, against a green background of other flowers and grasses
The snails were also enjoying the wildflowers with us in Wandlebury, Cambridgeshire last week; one (L) on a Knapweed seedhead and the other (R) on some Tufted Vetch 🐌🐌
#SaturdaySnails #SnailSaturday #snails #Wildflowers
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A striped shelled snail on a mossy wet rock at Niagara Falls.
Good morning, snail!
#NiagaraFalls #photography #iphone #portraitmode #photographersofbluesky #SnailSaturday 😆
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Check out the feeding structures moving in this snails' head!
Even though akaleha spend most of their time in trees & other live plants, they love to eat dead leaves that get caught in the branches 🍂
#InverteFest #SnailSaturday #JoyOfMolluscs
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Two mating Partula lutaensis.
A juvenile Partula lutaensis.
⚧️Every akaleha is both male & female
😘To mate, one snail crawls on the other & they entwine their reproductive parts
👶Once mated, an akaleha will give birth to 1 baby every few weeks
#InverteFest #SnailSaturday #JoyOfMolluscs
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Partula lutaensis with a tan shell.
Partula lutaensis with a multi-colored dark brown shell.
Partula lutaensis with an off-white shell.
Partula lutaensis shells come in several colors
🤎💜🧡💛🤍
#InverteFest #SnailSaturday #JoyOfMolluscs
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Tan and brown Partula lutaensis crawling on a vine. There is a cm ruler near the snail, showing that its shell is about 1.5 cm long.
Yellow and brown Samoana fragilis sitting on a leaf. There is a cm ruler near the snail, showing that its shell is about 1.2 cm wide.
Meet the akaleha of Rota Island!
Akaleha = Chamorro name for tree snails in Family Partulidae
🤍Partula lutaensis: most akaleha on Rota, only found here
💛Samoana fragilis: native to Rota & Guam
They are similar shape & size but are different colors
#InverteFest #SnailSaturday #JoyOfMolluscs
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