The world’s smallest snail can fit ten times in the eye of a needle! Measuring 0.86 mm in size, Angustopila dominikae snail is just visible to the naked eye. The snails are found on limestone cliffs in Guangxi province, Southern China. Its conservation status is Critically Endangered (CR), because the species has only been found once, and in one place in the world.
Being tiny means it can live in minute crevices in steep limestone peaks, says Barna Páll-Gergely of Shinshu University, Japan, who led the team that identified it. There, it probably lingers within its plain grey shell until it rains, when it comes out to graze on algal films that grow in moist conditions.
Tininess may also help protect it, although no one knows for sure. “The problem living in the tropics and subtropics is that there’s an army of micro-arthropods that dearly like to eat snails,” says Richard Preece of the University of Cambridge’s Museum of Zoology. While other snails have evolved defences in their shells such as tooth-encrusted apertures, trap doors or safe rooms, A. dominikae seems to have gone for keeping a low profile instead.
Picture Credit : Google