Australdonta degagei

[Sebbe]

Gargominy, O. & Fontaine, B.2014. Terrestrial Biodiversity of the Austral Islands, French Polynesia. A Global Overview of the Terrestrial and Freshwater Molluscs. Patrimonines Naturels (Book 72). French National Museum Natural History.

Two species were known from Rimatara (Australdonta rimatarana, A. degagei), which were found in 2004, but no live individuals were observed. We suppose they are extinct.

[Sebbe]

Anthropogenic extinction of Pacific landsnails: A case study of Rurutu, French Polynesia, with description of eight new species of endodontids (Pulmonata)

When the team led by Cooke visited Rurutu in 1934, they found considerable environmental degradation and only two remnants of primary forest (Cooke in Gregory 1935). The report by Solem (1976) of A. degagei collected alive by the Mangarevan Expedition comprises the sole record of a nendodontid snail extant in Rurutu. Although nearly eight thousand empty shells of A. degagei were collected by Gargominy & Fontaine (2003), not a single living specimen of this species could be located, nor of any of the other endodontid taxa of Rurutu. The family is most probably extinct on the island, even though it is not possible to refute the idea that a few species may be represented by remnant populations inhabiting the deep crevices of the matos (Gargominy & Fontaine 2003; Zimmermann et al. 2009).

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26000422

[surroundx]

Solem, Alan. (1976). Endodontoid Land Snails from Pacific Islands (Mollusca: Pulmonata: Sigmurethra). Part 1. Family Endodontidae. Chicago, Illinois: Field Museum of Natural History. 508 pp.