Partula turgida was a species of air-breathing tropical land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Partulidae. This species was endemic to Ra'iātea, French Polynesia. It is now extinct.

Partula turgida
Live Partula clarkei, which was misidentified as this species until 2016
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Order: Stylommatophora
Family: Partulidae
Genus: Partula
Species:
P. turgida
Binomial name
Partula turgida
(Pease, 1864)

Partula clarkei, misidentified as this species, was being kept alive in captivity, when the population suffered a crash caused by the microsporidian genus Steinhausia. This is the first definitive report of an extinction of a species caused by a parasite.[2]

References

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  1. ^ Coote, T. (2009). "Partula turgida". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2009: e.T16331A5603037. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2009-2.RLTS.T16331A5603037.en. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
  2. ^ Cunningham A. A. & Daszak P. (1998). "Extinction of a Species of Land Snail Due to Infection with a Microsporidian Parasite". Conservation Biology. 12 (5): 1139–1141. doi:10.1046/j.1523-1739.1998.97485.x. JSTOR 2387588. S2CID 85093320.