†Partula turgida was a species of air-breathing tropical land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Partulidae. This species was endemic to Ra'iātea, French Polynesia. It died out in 1996, and is now extinct.[1] The snail's low rate of movement made it hard to determine the exact date of death but it was confirmed on 31 January.[2]
Partula turgida | |
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Shell of a Partula turgida | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Mollusca |
Class: | Gastropoda |
Subclass: | Heterobranchia |
Order: | Stylommatophora |
Family: | Partulidae |
Genus: | Partula |
Species: | †P. turgida
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Binomial name | |
†Partula turgida (Pease, 1864)
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Partula turgida was being kept alive in captivity, when the population suffered a crash caused by the microsporidian genus Steinhausia. This is the first definitive report of an extinction of a species caused by a parasite.[3]