Biodiversity and Extinction of Hawaiian Land Snails: How Many are Left Now and What Must We Do To Conserve Them – A Reply to Solem (1990)

Abstract

Synopsis: Pacific islands, with their incredible biodiversity, are our finest natural laboratories for evolutionary, ecological and cultural studies. Nowhere, in relation to land area, does land snail diversity reach that of the Pacific islands, with more than 6,000 species, most of which are single island endemics. Unfortunately, land snails are the most imperiled group with the most recorded extinctions since the 1500s, and Pacific island snails make up the majority of those extinctions. In 1990, Dr. Alan Solem, a well renowned malacologist, with expertise in Pacific island land snails, posthumously published a plea to save the remaining Hawaiian land snails before they vanish forever. Now, more than 25 years later, we have finally begun to make inroads into answering the questions "How many Hawaiian land snails remain?" and "What will we need to save them?". Here we provide a belated reply to Solem (1990) and address these questions about Hawaiian land snails. We conclude by building on the actions suggested by Solem and that we feel are still needed to realize his hope of conserving Hawaii's remaining land snails specifically, but also our hope of conserving invertebrates more broadly.