A team of researchers from India and U.K. have discovered a species of land snail from the Konkan region of Maharashtra and named it, ‘Theobaldius konkanensis’.
In a paper titled, ‘A new species of cyclophorid land snail (Caenogastropoda: Cyclophoridae) from the coastal regions of Maharashtra, India’ published on March 11, 2025, in the international scientific journal Molluscan Research, the researchers have said that this snail is endemic to the northern Western Ghats, an unstudied biodiversity hotspot.
The lead authors of the paper are Amrut Bhosale from the Department of Zoology, Dahiwadi College, Dahiwadi in Satara district of Maharashtra; Tejas Thackeray and Akshay Khandekar from Thackeray Wildlife Foundation, Mumbai; Omkar Yadav from the Department of Zoology, Amdar Shashikant Shinde Mahavidyalay, Medha in Satara; Tom S. White from The Natural History Museum, London, U.K. and Dinarzarde C. Raheem from the Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Rajarata University of Sri Lanka and Scientific Associate at The Natural History Museum, London U.K.
Researchers said land snails were excellent bioindicators and were susceptible to climatic fluctuations. Nowadays, anthropogenic activities were increased in this area, leading to the extinction of the land snail species with patchy distribution. Exploring the species would add to the knowledge of the land snail species of the Konkan as well as the Western Ghats.
Remains unexplored
On selecting the name of the species, Mr. Omkar Yadav said, “Considering the distribution of the new species in the Konkan region, we gave the name Theobaldius konkanensis to the new species. Much of the area of the Konkan and the northern Western Ghats remains unexplored, and our survey is ongoing, so there are possibilities that the species may record further north or south of the current distribution. We will continue the survey in the region.”
Mr. Tejas Thackeray said that many species of snails found in the forests of Konkan were endemic. “Theobaldius konkanensis is a species that exists only in specific regions of Konkan. This makes it an invaluable part of Konkan’s natural heritage. Therefore, taking the right steps for its conservation is of critical significance.”
Talking about the research, Mr. Amrut Bhosale said that the survey was conducted in 2021 at a few locations in Maharashtra’s Ratnagiri and Raigad districts. These locations were in the lower elevational forests of the northern Western Ghats and a forest patch in the coastal Maharashtra at an altitude of 80 to 240 meters above sea level. The samples of snails were found at Dev Gireshwar Temple in Ansure, Ratnagiri; Uttamrao Patil Biodiversity Garden in Chikhali, Guhagar Chiplun Road in Ratnagiri; Kesharnath Vishnu Temple in Shedwai, Ratnagiri; and Phansad Sanctury in Raigad.
The species was principally found in tropical evergreen and semi-evergreen forests. The live specimens were found on the forest floor in leaf litter and on damp fallen branches from June to September and at other times of the year only shells were observed, Mr. Bhosale said.
This species is active during the day and night, with live individuals being easily found in the afternoon in well-shaded places under the forest canopy. This species co-occurs with other ground-living land-snail genera.
The shells of the new species were compared with images of the types of Theobaldius species from the Mollusca collection of the Natural History Museum, London, the University Museum of Zoology, Cambridge and samples of T.? tristis collected from Dajipur. The type of material of the new species has been deposited in the museum and research collection facility at the National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bengaluru; the Bombay Natural History Museum (BNHS), Mumbai; and in the Zoological Survey of India, Western Regional Centre in Pune.
Land snails are excellent bioindicators and are susceptible to climatic fluctuations.
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Special Arrangement
According to the research paper, the new species differs from all other Indian Theobaldius species that have a deep triangular apertural notch overhung by a prominent, raised fold or wing and an operculum with whorl edges strongly raised and ornamented with short spines. This species also tends to have a more elevated spire than other Theobaldius species.
In appearance, the adult snail’s shell is thick, conoidally depressed, widely umbilicated with regularly increasing whorls, corneous yellow qin colour with brown striations, collabrally striated periostracum that wears off in patches, the paper explained.
Mr. Bhosale said that in India a total of 1,138 land snail species were recorded from 167 genera and 39 families. Theobaldius currently numbers 20 species and were distributed in India (nine species), Sri Lanka (11 species) and Sumatra (one species) island in Indonesia. Among the Indian species, two: T. nivicola and T. orites are known only from north-east India.
Based on the available data, six of the seven remaining Indian species, T. anguis, T. deplanatus, T. maculosus, T. ravidus, T. stenostoma, and T.? tristis, are endemic to the Western Ghats; the seventh species, T. annulatus, occurs in both Sri Lanka and the Western Ghats.
As per studies conducted in 2007 and 2014, most of the Western Ghats species were thought to be restricted to the central and southern Western Ghats but T.? tristis has recently been recorded from Radhanagari and Amba, Maharashtra, in the northern Western Ghats.
Unavailability of literature
On reasons why the snails are spotted now in so many years, Mr. Bhosale said that very few taxonomists work on land snails and this group is neglected due to the unavailability of the literature; most of the species’ descriptions are in Latin, and identification problems and so on. Because of these reasons, no one shows interest in land snails. “Very few studies were carried out on the land snails of the Konkan region. The new species described from the unexplored area of the Konkan highlights the strong need for an in-depth study of land snails of the region. Further research is essential to understand the role of this newly identified species within the local ecosystem,” he explained.
Generally, snails are visible in the particularly rainy season. Most of the operculate land snails have separate sexes and majority of land snails are hermaphrodite (having both sex). Land snail and slug breed only in rainy season. They reproduce by cross-fertilisation as well as self-fertilisation. Before mating, snails show courtship behaviour by piercing the dart into the partner’s body. Mating lasts for two to several hours. They mate 2 to 3 times to increase egg fertility. After mating, the number of eggs varies from species to species and lay their eggs in cracks and crevices, in soil or below leaf litter. Eggs hatch after 2 weeks to 1 month. The lifespan of land snails and slugs is about 2 to 7 years.
Published – April 06, 2025 09:47 pm IST