The title of world's tiniest snail has been awarded to a tiny critter discovered in Malaysian Borneo with a shell measuring in at only 0.7 of a millimeter.
The discovery of the snail was announced along with 47 other new species that varied in size, Pensoft Publishers reported. The record-breaking snail was named Acmella nana, or "dwarf." The previous holder of the record of world's smallest snail the Chinese Angustopila dominikae was named only about a month ago.
Some of the snails named recently in the journal ZooKeys had been familiar to scientists for years and were just yet to named, while others live in rare vegetation types and were discovered more recently. Seven of the new species were discovered on Mount Kinabalu, which stands about 16,000 feet high.
This new research provides insight into snail species endemic to Borneo. Since snails move at such slow rates, they can remain in extremely specific types of foliage and limited regions for long periods of time. This allows the snails to adapt to unique environments, potentially providing a window into how such endemic species come to rise. The findings could also have important implications for species conservation.
"A blazing forest fire at Loloposon Cave could wipe out the entire population of Diplommatina tylocheilos," said co-author Menno Schilthuizen of Naturalis Biodiversity Center and Universiti Malaysia Sabah.
The "dwarf" snail was found primarily on bedrock and was described as having a translucent and shiny shell with a predominant spiral shape.
Descriptions of the new snail species can be found HERE.
