An international team of scientists led by the University of Shinshu (China) has discovered in Guangxi province (China) a new species of tiny land snail: Angustopila dominikae . Its shell is so small (at its widest part it measures only 0.86 millimeters) that almost 10 specimens could fit in the eye of a needle . The finding has been published in the magazine ZooKeys .
Researchers have found up to seven new species of land snails but, without a doubt, the one named Angustopila dominikae could be the smallest snail in the world discovered so far . There are very few species that show this degree of dwarfism, so finding living specimens is a more than difficult task.
Among the seven species discovered, another of the snails was about to exceed this size record . Scientists have named this species Angustopila subelevata and it is only one hundredth of a millimeter larger than the other species (that is, the widest part of the shell measures 0.87 mm).
“The extremes in the body size of organisms not only attract public attention, but also arouse interest in terms of their adaptation to the environment. Studying land snails with tiny shells is important to assess biodiversity and natural history , as well as to establish the basis for the study of the evolution of dwarfism in invertebrate animals ”, the scientists clarify.
