IMG_0080 Superb giant landsnail (Powelliphanta superba prouseorum) is our largest giant landsnail, its shell may grow up to 90 mm across and 40 mm high. A fist sized adult snail can weigh over 90g, but unfortunately old individuals like this are now rare, because possums, and at lower altitudes pigs and rats, have largely wiped them out. These massive snails are confined to the forests inland of Kahurangi Point in North west Nelson, where aerial control of possums may be this snail's only hope for survival *
11005-04720 Superb giant landsnail (Powelliphanta superba prouseorum) about to engulf earthworm prey. This species is our largest giant land snail, and it is nationally endangered. NW Nelson
11005-05501 Mount Augustus giant landsnail (Powelliphanta augusta) with eggs in mountain flax. Mount Augustus, on Stockton Plateau was the only home of this Nationally Critical species. By 2009, it's habitat had been entirely destroyed by mountain-top mining, undertaken by the state-owned coal company Solid Energy NZ *
