Pernastela howensis


Pernastela howensis, also known as the Lord Howe pinhead snail, is a tiny species of land snail that is endemic to Australia's Lord [Howe Island] in the Tasman Sea.

Description

The trochoidal shell of the mature snail is 1.8–2.1 mm in height, with a diameter of 3–3.3 mm, and a raised spire. It is cream to pale golden-brown in colour. The whorls are shouldered and sutures impressed, with widely spaced radial ribs. It has an roundly lunate aperture, flattened on the upper side by the reflected lip, and a moderately wide umbilicus. The animal is unknown.

Distribution and habitat

The snail is known only from three worn shells collected from the summit of Mount Gower in 1912, and it may be extinct.