Help track secretive snails

We need your help tracking Wainuia clarkii snails

We are very keen to get a better idea of where Wainuia clarkii snails can be found. If you’re hunting in the Kaimanawa and happen to see any shell resembling the snail, it would be great if you could let us know. 

Take a photo or whack a waypoint into your GPS and then give us a call +64 7 384 7106 or email ttcinfo@doc.govt.nz. It wouldn’t mean any closure of hunting areas, it would simply allow us to fill the gaps in our knowledge about this rare snail. And there’s no better way than to ask those who know the Kaimanawa best!

Why are they important?

The shell is a glossy brown, often with
a light spot at the start of the spiral

Wainuia clarkii is a land snail only found in New Zealand. They are meat eaters, with a fondness for earthworms, and usually live under fern or leaf litter and damp rock piles within beech and kanuka forests. More often than not it’s the empty shells that are found, lying around in leaf litter. 

What do they look like?

The shell is usually quite soft when moist, and becomes more brittle and fragile when dried. It is a glossy brown, with a little light coloured dot at the point of the shell spiral. The maximum size of the shell is 30mm across, but most shells tend to range from 10mm – 25mm. 

Another example of what they look like

This species is considered nationally endangered in New Zealand, which makes them more endangered than the kiwi and blue duck. Their main predators are rats and thrushes, with possums, pigs and even hedgehogs known to have a go at them. 

However, very little is known about them – their lifestyle, where they can be found, or even how many of them there are. 

Where are they found?

The snail is known from two separate areas in the central North Island; two sites around Lake Taupo and in scattered sites in the Kaweka range including the Upper Tutaekuri catchment, the Ngaruroro catchment and in the north Ihaka Spur. These two clustered sites are separated by 60km and they may be present in the intervening area of the Kaimanawa forest.