A Field Guide to the Land Snails of Lord Howe Island

This book is the first comprehensive, illustrated field guide to the land snails of Lord Howe Island, featuring over 80 species, with detailed colour photos The guide showcases how these small unique and beautiful gastropods play a vital role in the health of an ecosystem.  Lord Howe Island has Australia’s highest diversity of land snails, with around 65 species not found anywhere else.

Snails and slugs belong to the phylum Mollusca, which is one of the largest animal groups, second only to the arthropods (insects, spiders, crustaceans, and their relatives.) An important indicator of habitat health, many land snails graze on biofilm – made up of fungi and other micro-organisms in leaf litter or on tree trunks and leaves.

Lord Howe Island is a remote island of stunning beauty in the Tasman Sea, lying between Australia and New Zealand. It is a World Heritage site renowned for its high numbers of endemic plants and animals.