Micro Snail In The Philippines

 

Philippines – Recently, a team of Filipino scientists have found a species of micro snail at Rizal Philippines in the Masungi Georeserve with only a size of an ant where quite 99.8 % genetically similar to what they found on Baguio city Philippines but also have differences in shell size and number of teeth.

The species is called Hypselostoma latispira masungiensis.

“Filipino scientists have discovered a new subspecies of the microsnail, named Hypselostoma latispia masungiensis, at the Masungi Georeserve in Rizal…….. "The discovery of the new subspecies highlights the importance of Masungi and other karst ecosystems as areas of high conservation value," the Masungi Georeserve Foundation said in a statement. A team of scientists from the University of the Philippines-Los Baños first found the microsnail in 2017, noting its similarity to the H. latispira in Baguio City. Microsnails have shells measuring less than 5 millimeters, or about the size of an ant….. After three years of study and analyses, the researchers found that the snails from Baguio and Rizal differed in size but had 99.8-percent genetic similarity. The snail in Baguio has a smaller shell size and four apertural teeth inside while the new subspecies has five teeth.” (CNN Philippines)

The Micro Snail (image from CNN Philippines webiste)