Welcome

This website is all about the snail Hawaiia minuscula, or commonly known as Minute Gem. You will find information regarding the classification, habitat, adaptation to dry environments, nutrition, and reproduction of the snail, Hawaiia minuscula (Minute Gem). The Minute Gem belongs to the class Gastropoda (Burch, 1962). With around 40,000 species, gastropods are the largest and most diverse class of mollusks.

Mollusks are understudied in comparison to other groups of organisms because of their wide-ranging diversity (Perez, 2010). Not to mention, non-marine mollusks have the highest number of extinctions compared to any other taxonomic group (Perez, 2010). Therefore, it is very important to study these organisms to learn more about how they live and perhaps learn how we can help these truly unique species avoid becoming extinct.

The links above the text are there to help you navigate freely throughout this site. Please, if you have any questions, comments, or concerns, feel free to contact me through the About the Author page.

To learn more information about the snails of Wisconsin check out Wisconsin Land Snails.

 

Figure 1. Hawaiia minuscula (right) pictured with Pupoides albilabris species (left).

 

Learn more about the classification of the Minute Gem.