JoTT Review

4(11): 3029–3037

Land snails (Mollusca: Gastropoda) of India: status,

threats and conservation strategies
Sandeep Sen 1, G. Ravikanth 2 & N.A. Aravind 3
1,2,3
Suri Sehgal Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation, Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE),
Royal Enclave, Srirampura, Jakkur PO, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560064, India
Email: 1 sandeep.sen@atree.org, 2 gravikanth@atree.org, 3 aravind@atree.org (corresponding author)

Date of publication (online): 26 September 2012 Abstract: Land snails form an important component in the forest ecosystem. In terms
Date of publication (print): 26 September 2012 of number of species, the phylum Mollusca, to which land snails belong, is the largest
ISSN 0974-7907 (online) | 0974-7893 (print) phylum after Arthropoda. Mollusca provide unique ecosystem services including
Editor: Fred Naggs
recycling of nutrients and they provide a prey base for small mammals, birds, snakes
and other reptiles. However, land snails have the largest number of documented
Manuscript details: extinctions, compared to any other taxa. Till date 1,129 species of land snails are
Ms # o2722 recorded from Indian territory. But only basic information is known about their taxonomy
Received 03 March 2011 and little is known of their population biology, ecology and their conservation status. In
Final received 18 July 2012 this paper, we briefly review status, threats and conservation strategies of land snails
Finally accepted 24 August 2012 of India.
Citation: Sen, S., G. Ravikanth & N.A. Aravind
(2012). Land snails (Mollusca: Gastropoda) of Keywords: Biodiversity, conservation, land snails, taxonomic bias, reintroduction,
India: status, threats and conservation strategies. Western Ghats
Journal of Threatened Taxa 4(11): 3029–3037.

Copyright: © Sandeep Sen, G. Ravikanth & N.A.

Aravind 2012. Creative Commons Attribution Introduction
3.0 Unported License. JoTT allows unrestricted
use of this article in any medium for non-profit
purposes, reproduction and distribution by
providing adequate credit to the authors and the The tropics have faced massive biodiversity loss due to intensive
source of publication. anthropogenic activities such as changes in land use and degradation of
Author Details: See end of this article environment. Recent reports suggest that the tropics are losing biodiversity
Author Contribution: All authors have at an alarming rate (Sodhi 2008). Much of this biodiversity loss has
contributed equally to this manuscript been reported for vertebrates and plants. However, there is very little
Acknowledgements: The authors greatly knowledge on the extent of loss in lesser known groups, especially the
acknowledge the Darwin Initiative via DEFRA,
Government of UK for funding. We are also invertebrates. In this paper, we highlight the importance of land snails
grateful to Drs. T. Ganesh, Soubadra Devy and the need for their conservation.
and K.V. Gururaja for critical comments on
the earlier version of the manuscript. We also Land snails include several distinct lineages of terrestrial gastropods
thank two anonymous reviewers for their critical
comments that greatly helped in improving the
and belong to the second largest phylum after arthropods in terms of
manuscript. number of species with more than one lakh described species (Lydeard
et al. 2004). Land snails constitute about six per cent of the total species
on Earth (Clark & May 2002). A large part of molluscan fauna in many
tropical regions of the world is still poorly known. They form an important
component of the forest ecosystem by recycling nutrients (Graveland et
al. 1994; Dunk et al. 2004) and are the prey base for a number of small
mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and other invertebrates, including
carnivorous snails (Deepak et al. 2010). In calcium poor habitats land
snails can form an important source of calcium for other animals. Land
snails also serve as an indicator of ecological conditions, and are very
sensitive to climatic and ecological change (Shimek 1930; Simone
1999; Čejka & Hamerlík 2009). Thus, they are useful for reconstructing
past environments (Bar-Yosef Mayer 2002; Gümüş 2009). As early
as 1839 Charles Darwin showed the value of land snails in studying
OPEN ACCESS | FREE DOWNLOAD environmental change (Naggs et al. 2006). Terrestrial snails prove to be

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Land snails of India S. Sen et al.

valuable research subjects for studies in evolutionary These malacological pioneers laid the foundation of
biology, biogeography, phylogeography, biodiversity, our knowledge on the taxonomy and distribution of
ecology and conservation biology (Schilthuizen et Indian land snails. Following this period of intensive
al. 2007; Davison et al. 2008; Richards & Davison study, there was a drastic decline in studies on Indian
2010). With their generally low dispersal powers, land snails. More recent studies in India, have mainly
land snails tend to exhibit conservative distribution concentrated on inventorying regional snail faunas
patterns, making them valuable subjects in studying (like state or protected areas) and less on species
historical biogeography (Solem 1984; Naggs & description, ecology and conservation (Aravind et
Raheem 2005; Wade et al. 2006). Highly diverse and al. 2010). While globally, there has been a renewed
narrowly distributed, land snails are good indicators interest in land snail research, in India the research has
of areas of conservation importance and endemicity truly been at a snail’s pace (Aravind et al. 2005, 2008,
when compared to widely distributed groups such as 2010; Aravind & Naggs 2012). Little information is
vertebrates (Moritz et al. 2001). available on species limits, distribution ranges and
The distribution and activity of land snails depends patterns of diversity. Recent analysis of Indian land
on several factors including precipitation, soil pH, soil and freshwater molluscan literature has confirmed
Ca content, canopy density, etc. Calcium availability that that there are hardly any studies on the ecology
in the soil is a major limiting factor for their survival and conservation of Indian land snails compared to
as it is required for their shell formation. Several the wide range of historical literature available on
studies have shown that Ca is positively correlated taxonomy (Aravind et al. 2010). There are no studies
with species richness and density (Burch 1955; Hotopp on the population status, phylogeny and taxonomic
2002; Aravind 2005). However, in the regions such as revision of different families or genera of Indian land
the Western Ghats, where the soil is usually acidic the snails.
snail richness is usually high but abundance is low.
The past two decades have seen a large number of Species diversity and rarity in land snails
studies highlighting the need for mollusc conservation Globally, nearly 35,000 species of land snails have
globally (Bouchet 1992; Ponder 1997; Herbert 1998; been described and there may be 30,000 to 60,000
Killeen & Seddon 2004; Budha 2005; Solymos additional species yet to be described (Lydeard et
& Feher 2005; Régnier et al. 2009). Killeen & al. 2004). Within modern India’s boundaries 1129
Seddon (2004) notably edited a volume with global species belonging to 140 genera and 26 families of
coverage on molluscan biodiversity and conservation, land snails have been recorded (Ramakrishna et al.
highlighting the importance of molluscan ecology 2010). The Western Ghats hotspot has 270 species of
and conservation. However, very little information land snails of which 76% are endemic to this region
is available on the status and threats of land snails (Aravind 2005) and 40% are micro-gastropods (i.e.
in India. Here, we review current status of ecology, <5mm on greatest dimension) (Aravind et al. 2008).
conservation and threats to land snails with particular Unlike most other systematic groups many land snail
reference to India and discuss the strategies required species have restricted range distributions with some
for conserving this important group. endangered species having a range of less than 5km2
and many endemic species having ranges less than
Early studies on land snails in India 10km2 (Cameron 1998; Dunk et al. 2004). According
Indian malacology was pioneered by William to Solem (1984) nearly half of all terrestrial molluscs
Henry Benson (1803–1870), who contributed have a species range of less than 100km2. Within the
significantly to our knowledge on Indian land snails Western Ghats, species distributed in the southern
in the mid 19th century (Naggs 1997). The Blanford region are absent in the northern region. Further, there
bothers-William and Henry, H. Theobald, L. Pfeiffer, is very little overlap between the southern and central,
G.K. Gude, H.H. Godwin-Austen and R. Beddome, and central and northern regions (Table 1; Aravind
led Indian land snail research until the early 20th 2005). Nearly 75% of land snails from the Western
century, but Gude and Pfeiffer’s research was based Ghats have been reported from less than three sites
entirely on museum material as neither visited India. (Fig. 1). This data clearly indicates how vulnerable this
3030 Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | September 2012 | 4(11): 3029–3037
Land snails of India S. Sen et al.

Table 1. Percent species shared between different regions 40

of the Western Ghats (Division of the Western Ghats is
35
based on Aravind et al. 2005)
30

Percent species
Region South Central North
25
South 100
20
E-17.19
Central 100 15
NE-11.11
E-0.00 E-1.56 10
North 100
NE-2.78 NE-1.39
5

0
1 2 3 4 5 >5
Number of locations

group is to any small scale change in the ecosystem.   Figure 1. Distribution pattern of land snails in the Western
Ghats
The situation in other regions of India is also cause for
concern. Northeastern India harbours a rich mixture
of Indian and Burmese/Malayan snail groups resulting between forest patches (Aravind 2005; Raheem et al.
in the highest species diversity in this region, but there 2008). Climate change is considered to be a threat
are hardly any studies on their distribution and threats. to many species (Thomas et al. 2004), and land snails
Our information on the land snails of northeastern are particularly vulnerable (Pounds & Crump 1994;
India, is basically from the Fauna of British India and Pounds et al. 1999; Sternberg 2000; Bezemer & Knight
a few Zoological Survey of India reports. Conversely, 2001; Gerlach 2007). Changes in rainfall patterns
though less rich, the land snail fauna of the Western and fluctuation in soil temperature could lead to the
Ghats is better known when compared to other regions death of juvenile snails and impair mobility across a
of India (Rao 1924; Sathyamaurthi 1960; Subbarao & fragmented mosaic of natural and transformed habitats
Mitra 1979; Ramakrishna & Mitra 2002; Madhyastha in response to climate change. Extinction of land snail
et al. 2004; Mavinkurve et al. 2004a,b; 2005; Aravind species due to change in climatic conditions such as a
2005; Aravind et al. 2005, 2008; Rajashekhar & decrease in rainfall and global warming has also been
Aravind 2012). reported (Baur & Baur 1993; Gerlach 2007). In India,
we do not have any information on potential impact of
Threats climate change on land snails.
The major threats to the native land snail fauna A vast extent of the Western Ghats is covered in
include habitat loss and fragmentation as a result of plantations such as tea, coffee, areca, rubber etc.
anthropogenic activities such as intense land use, A wide variety of pesticides/herbicides are used to
construction of roads, dams, plantations, pollution and control several species of arthropods, fungi and plants
the spread of invasive species (Aravind 2005; Aravind that infest these plantation crops (Dipti & Velho 2007).
et al. 2005) which reduce diversity and change the The impact of these chemicals on the local flora and
community structure of land snails (Aravind 2005; fauna including endemic land snails as well as other
Rajashekhar & Aravind 2012). Between 1973 and invertebrates is unknown. Forest fires (even surface
1995 the southern Western Ghats lost nearly 25 percent fires) and reduction in vegetation cover are also major
of forest cover (Jha et al. 2000). This region of the threats to land snails.
Ghats harbours high species diversity and endemism
in land snails (Aravind 2005). Poor dispersal and Neglected taxa in conservation
small distribution ranges of many land snails have The scarcity of malacologists in India has had a
undoubtedly contributed to high levels of extinction. serious impact on studies related to taxonomy, diversity,
Because of strict habitat preference, any fragmentation distribution, endemism, threats and conservation of
of populations could affect their gene flow. Even, land snails. Lack of interest in land snail research is
cutting of roads within a protected area could fragment also due to poor funding opportunities for taxonomy
populations of snails. However, for a subset of forest and basic biology, unavailability of good taxonomic
snail species, man-made habitats such as home gardens keys and field guides. The science of taxonomy is
and plantations can act as either refugia or corridors practised on an international level. Indian Biodiversity
Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | September 2012 | 4(11): 3029–3037 3031
 Land snails of India S. Sen et al.

Act of 2002 does not permit exchange of specimens 2006). Despite having the largest extinction rates and
with international scientific communities, which highest number of threatened species (Fig. 2), land
further hinders the taxonomic studies on land snails snails are still not considered worthy for conservation
(Prathapan et al. 2006). Further, most researchers and efforts despite having deep independent phylogenetic
conservation biologists show considerable interest lineages in many groups.
in “charismatic conservation” (Burner et al. 2001).
Molluscs have the largest number of documented
extinctions since 1500AD (www.redlist.org). Non- Conservation of Land snails in India
marine species (terrestrial and freshwater) constitute
99 percent of all molluscan extinctions. Among the The role of communities and organisations
566 extinct molluscs, the largest proportion is of Land snails have a very poor image among the
the land snails (422 species) followed by freshwater public, forest managers and policy makers (Seddon
molluscs (140 species). Till date there are only four 1998) and a lack of public support. Recently, an
recorded extinctions of marine molluscs (Lydeard et attempt was made to popularise land snails to a wider
al. 2004; Regnier et al. 2009). In the last 300 years, audience in India in the form of an illustrated guide,
the Indian Ocean Islands of Mauritius, Rodrigues and produced by the Natural History Museum, London
Reunion have lost 30 species of land snails (Burner et in association with ATREE, Bengaluru on land snails
al. 2001) and St. Helena and Madeira in the Atlantic of the Western Ghats (Appendix 1). This guide not
Ocean have lost 36 species of land snails (WCMC only assists conservation biologists but also amateur
1992). Although terrestrial vertebrate extinctions are naturalists, students and the lay public alike to identify
well documented, invertebrate extinctions often go land snails of the Western Ghats (Raheem et al.
unnoticed. Only a small fraction, i.e., <2% of known 2009).
molluscan species have had their conservation status Effective conservation also requires awareness
properly assessed (Lydeard et al. 2004; Naggs et al. regarding importance of this taxa in the ecosystem

Figure 2. Status of Mollusks. Data from 2010 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (www.redlist.org)

  3032 Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | September 2012 | 4(11): 3029–3037

Land snails of India S. Sen et al.

and the services they provide. Communicating the Habitat conservation

importance of snails and their role in ecosystem health, In India, many forested areas, which are devoid
could also attract interest of wider ranging audience. of large and charismatic mammal species, have high
An organization called Buglife in Europe was set up land snail diversity. However, these reserve forests
to conserve rare invertebrates in Britain (www.buglife. generally receive little protection status as they fall
org.uk). Such efforts are needed in this country for outside the protected area network. These reserve
effective conservation of invertebrates in general and forests are open access and hence they are prone to a
land snails in particular. variety of anthropogenic disturbances such as collection
of minor forest products, grazing, fire, etc. Significant
Species-specific conservation plans proportions of endemic species are distributed in
A notable exception to the general apathy towards these non-protected areas and hence are vulnerable
snail conservation is the International Partula to extinction. Current habitat conservation practice
Conservation Programme, a unique ex-situ breeding is focussed on encompassing iconic but generally
programme initiated by Prof. Bryan Clarke at the widely distributed/low risk species. Conversely
University of Nottingham and coordinated by the habitats with the highest total of biological diversity
Zoological Society of London. About 25 Partula snail are not targeted. Land snails are of potential value as
species were exterminated in the wild by the predatory indicators of high diversity habitats for a wide range of
snail, Euglandina rosea that was introduced from plant and animal groups. Thus, snails can be utilised
Florida in a misguided attempt to control the introduced for identifying biodiversity rich habitats that should
Giant African Snail Lissachatina fulica. This program be given high conservation priorities. In addition, the
involved a managed breeding programme for 25 high geographical turnover of many land snail species
species of Partula in 15 collaborating zoos globally exemplifies the value of local scale conservation in
along with local conservationists, local communities capturing biological diversity in general (Ponder 1997;
and the French Polynesian Government. To date more Raheem et al. 2009). For example, the low elevation
than 30 species of Partula have been rescued and evergreen reserve forests of Agumbe, Hulikal, etc.,
captive breeding populations have been established in the central Western Ghats have lower levels of
in 18 zoos and laboratories throughout the world protection but harbour high species diversity of land
(Pearce-Kelly et al. 1997). In another collaborative snails (Aravind 2005). The top down approach of
effort of the Natural History Museum, Bermuda conserving large mammals will exclude the majority
and London Zoo, 56 species of highly endangered of land snails, other invertebrates and plants from
land snails from Bermuda were captive bred and protection (Aravind et al. 2005). Hence, for effective
reintroduced as a part of their species conservation conservation of land snails, some of the species rich
action plan (www.zsl.org/zsl-london-zoo//news/snail- areas surrounding the protected areas such as Agumbe,
mail-from-bermuda,123,NS.html). In the USA plans Hulikal and similar areas rich in land snail diversity
for reintroductions to conserve the Stock Island Tree need to be given additional protection. In India and
Snail Orthalicus reses have been taken up (Boresma other developing countries, where information is
et al. 2001; Froys et al. 2001). In India the lack of seriously lacking, an alternative approach to maximise
information base, studies on the distribution, ecology, the conservation of rare and endemic species is by
genetics and threats, has hindered the development of identifying sites with high diversity and endemism
an informed conservation plan. However, a captive and protecting the habitat itself (Gaston 1996).
breeding program for selected species would help in
increasing public awareness. Hence, setting up of Need for future research
“snailariums” for breeding of endemic snails could Research on land snails in India should focus on
usefully be taken up by national parks and zoos. This their distribution patterns, taxonomy and ecology.
might raise public interest in snail conservation across Taxonomic expertise is a basic foundation for
the country. estimation of global biodiversity and formulation
of policy on conservation of biological diversity
(Golding & Timberlake 2002; Budha 2005). One of
Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | September 2012 | 4(11): 3029–3037 3033
Land snails of India S. Sen et al.

the greatest impediments for malacological research in Glessula through molecular phylogenetic applications
India has been a severe lack of trained malacologists. or through DNA barcoding should be initiated.
The initiative such as All India Coordinated
Project on Taxonomy (AICOPTAX) by Ministry of
Environment and Forests (MoEF) produced little work Conclusion
on molluscan taxonomy. The recent collaborative
project “Developing land snail expertise in South For informed conservation measures to be
and Southeast Asia” funded under Darwin Initiative implemented, detailed studies on land snail
Project by DEFRA, UK, helped build capacity on systematics, on threats to survival and on identifying
land snail taxonomy not only in India but also in Sri “hot-spots” for narrow range endemics are urgently
Lanka, Nepal, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam needed. Serious attention needs to be paid towards
(Naggs et al. 2006). However, more funds need protecting remaining forested areas, maintaining
to be allocated for capacity building in the areas of and possibly restoring connectivity, especially in the
taxonomy, natural history, ecology and biology of the tropical rain forests which support rich snail diversity
species in India. Developing databases on ecology, (Emberton 1996). More funds need to be allocated to
breeding behaviour, distribution and other details of capacity building in malacology. Land snail expertise
land snails should be encouraged and made accessible is urgently needed for economic reasons; awareness of
in the public domain, which could change the esoteric native species will certainly help in recognizing newly
status of malacology. In recent years, there have been introduced exotic species allowing effective control
accidental introductions of alien and invasive species or management before they become invasive. Efforts
into the Indian subcontinent. The impact of these should be made to establish snailariums in zoos in
invasive snails and slugs such as Lissachatina fulica, order to create awareness about snails among people.
Derocerus leave, Semiperula sp. on native land snail Priority should be given to conserve critical habitat
populations needs to be monitored. The introduced for conservation of land snails. India should also start
species generally occupy transformed habitats and an initiative such as the Frozen Arc Project (www.
their agricultural/horticultural pest status is more of an frozenark.org), where the viable cells of a number of
issue than being a threat to the native snails. However, near extinct species could be stored for possible use in
impact of invasive and pest species on native land snails the future.
and on the economic damage they incur to agriculture
and horticultural crops needs to be assessed. For
the exotic invasive malacofauna of the Indian sub- References
continent to be controlled in a timely way its status
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Appendix 1. An illustrated guide to the land snails in India (Raheem et al. 2009)

Author Details: Mr. Sandeep Sen is a research

intern at the Conservation Genetics Department
at ATREE. Basically a geneticist by training,
He is studying phylogenetics and population
genetics of land snails of the Western Ghats.
He is also developing species pages for Indian
mollusk fauna.
Dr. Ravikanth leads the conservation Genetics
Lab at ATREE. He has been actively involved
in working out genetic structure of threatened
species in the Western Ghats. He has
undertaken a number of research projects
related to the conservation and species
recovery of economically important and/or
endangered species.
Dr. Aravind is a Fellow at ATREE. He has been
working on ecology and taxonomy of non-marine
mollusk of the Western Ghats for a decade. He
is collaborating with Natural History Museum,
London on non-marine mollusc taxonomy.

Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | September 2012 | 4(11): 3029–3037 3037