Dear Peter and Conch-L,
   The trip to Hawaii was vacation, and as you might guess, I couldn't
help but look for land snails. We spent our two weeks on Kauai Island.
Most of the vegetation we saw was introduced (we had to go to a wildlife
refuge to see native plants, or above 1000 m elevation). Similar to the
plants, the land snails I saw were introduced, including too many
Euglandina rosea, the rosy wolf snail, the carnivorous one that is
eating the native endemics to extinction. Another abundant one was what
looked like Subulina octona. We also noticed Oxychilus alliarius, the
garlic snail, sometimes abundant enough on trails that we could smell
their garlic odor as we hiked by. I did see some tiny fossils of land
snails eroding out of a cliff that may possibly have included natives. I
didn't notice any larger fossils of the endemic Carelia (family
Amastridae).  Many of the fossils looked like the subulinids Subulina
octona and Opeas sp., and I think I saw Hawaiia minuscula. The last
one's name makes it sound native, but ironically, it was introduced to
Hawaii from North America before it was known to science, then
discovered in Hawaii and named, and subsequently discovered to have been
introduced. I understand that the Hawaiian native land snails are all
protected by law, but I didn't find where they are living. I hope they
are surviving.
   I did pick up a variety of tiny sea shells from the beach including
Pyramidellids and Leptothyra. I saw a few live cones and cowries, but I
didn't take any.
   Cheers,   -Tim-
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Peter Froehlich [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, 03 February, 1999 20:29
 
Any good shells in Hawaii?