Partula labrusca
Encyclopedia
Partula labrusca, was a species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 of air-breathing land snail
Snail
Snail is a common name applied to most of the members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have coiled shells in the adult stage. When the word is used in its most general sense, it includes sea snails, land snails and freshwater snails. The word snail without any qualifier is however more often...

, a terrestrial
Terrestrial animal
Terrestrial animals are animals that live predominantly or entirely on land , as compared with aquatic animals, which live predominantly or entirely in the water , or amphibians, which rely on a combination of aquatic and terrestrial habitats...

 pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the Partulidae
Partulidae
Partulidae is a family of air-breathing land snails, terrestrial gastropod mollusks in the infraorder Stylommatophora, endemic to Pacific islands.- Genera :Partulidae is divided into three genera:* Eua has four species, confined to Tonga and Samoa....

 family. This species was endemic in Raiatea
Raiatea
Raiatea , is the second largest of the Society Islands, after Tahiti, in French Polynesia. The island is widely regarded as the 'center' of the eastern islands in ancient Polynesia and it is likely that the organised migrations to Hawaii, Aotearoa and other parts of East Polynesia started at...

, the Society Islands
Society Islands
The Society Islands are a group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean. They are politically part of French Polynesia. The archipelago is generally believed to have been named by Captain James Cook in honor of the Royal Society, the sponsor of the first British scientific survey of the islands;...

 of French Polynesia
French Polynesia
French Polynesia is an overseas country of the French Republic . It is made up of several groups of Polynesian islands, the most famous island being Tahiti in the Society Islands group, which is also the most populous island and the seat of the capital of the territory...

.

Extinction

After the introduction of the carnivorous snail Euglandina rosea
Euglandina rosea
Euglandina rosea, common names the "rosy wolfsnail" or the "cannibal snail", is a species of medium-sized to large predatory air-breathing land snail, a carnivorous terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Spiraxidae.-Distribution:...

in the late 1980s, native partulid species began disappearing rapidly. By 1992 there were few left. No live individuals were found during surveys in 1994 and 2000, or during subsequent scientific expeditions to high altitudes. The last individual died in the captive breeding programme in 2002.

In 1996, this species was assessed as "Extinct in the wild
Extinct in the Wild
Extinct in the Wild is a conservation status assigned to species or lower taxa, the only known living members of which are being kept in captivity or as a naturalized population outside its historic range.-Examples:...

" as individuals still existed in a captive breeding programme, but not in the wild. In 2007, its Red List status was revised to Extinct, although it was actually recorded as going extinct in 2002.
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