{{Short description|Species of gastropod}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2025}} {{Cleanup|reason=Most of the facts here apply to Partula clarkei instead, due to misidentification|date=December 2025}} {{Speciesbox | image = Partula turgida national museum of scotland 2016.JPG | image_caption = Shell of a ''Partula turgida'' at the National Museum of Scotland | status = EX | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status_ref = <ref name="iucn status 15 November 2021">{{cite iucn |author=Coote, T. |date=2009 |title=''Partula turgida'' |volume=2009 |article-number=e.T16331A5603037 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2009-2.RLTS.T16331A5603037.en |access-date=15 November 2021}}</ref> | genus = Partula | species = turgida | authority = (Pease, 1865) | synonyms = }}
'''''Partula turgida''''', also known as the '''Raiatean thin-shelled partula''',<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Gerlach |first=Justin |date=4 September 2017 |title=IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: Partula turgida |url=https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/16331/119135957 |journal=IUCN Red List of Threatened Species |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20250429225928/https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/16331/119135957 |archive-date=29 April 2025}}</ref> is an extinct 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.{{Cn|date=December 2025}} It is now extinct.
''Partula clarkei'', misidentified as this species, was being kept alive in captivity,{{Cn|date=December 2025}} 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.
The genus ''Partula'' was presumed to have been established around 1.5 million BC.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Nevin |first=Charles |date=4 February 1996 |title=Farewell, Turgi ... safe seats update ... lunching by numbers |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/farewell-turgi-safe-seats-update-lunching-by-numbers-1317240.html |access-date=25 December 2025 |website=The Independent |language=en}}</ref>
==Description== As with other ''Partula'' species, ''P. turgida'' measured under two centimeters. It was stated to cover less than two feet of distance annually. ''P. turgida'' consumed algae found on tree leaves, as well as dead vegetation.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Lydia |first=Pyne |title=Endlings: Fables for the Anthropocene |publisher=University of Minnesota Press |year=2022 |isbn=978-1-5179-1483-7}}</ref>
==Distribution and habitat== ''Partula turgida'' was endemic to Ra'iātea, French Polynesia.<ref name=":4" />
==Extinction== ''Partula turgida'' began significantly decreasing at the beginning of the 20th century, partially due to habitat loss, but more significantly due to the introduction of African giant land snails (''Lissachatina fulica'').<ref name=":3" /> Foreigners brought the African giant land snails to the region as "foodstuffs" in 1967,<ref name=":3" /> though some sources claim they were also used as "garden ornaments".<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=1 February 1996 |title=SCIENCE FILE / An exploration of issues and trends affecting science, medicine and the environment : World's Last Polynesian Tree Snail Dies at London Zoo |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-02-01-me-31118-story.html |access-date=25 December 2025 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref> Shortly after their introduction, the African giant land snails began decimating the native ''Partula turgida'' population. In the 1970s, conservationists imported the rosy wolf snail (''Euglandina rosea'') to reduce the African giant land snail's population.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=McCarthy |first=Erin |date=13 December 2025 |title=8 Animals That Recently Went Extinct |url=https://www.mentalfloss.com/science/extinction/recently-extinct-animals |access-date=25 December 2025 |website=Mental Floss |language=en-US}}</ref> However, the rosy wolf snail preferred ''Partula'' species over the African giant land snails, causing the extinction of 27 tree snail species within a decade of its introduction.<ref name=":3" />
As an additional conservation effort, a captive breeding program was initiated at the London Zoo in the early 1990s,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Macknight |first=Lauren |date=22 March 2023 |title=The End of the Line: "Endlings" and what their stories tell us about the planet, its inhabitants, and ourselves |url=https://lifeandletters.la.utexas.edu/2023/03/the-end-of-the-line-endlings-and-what-their-stories-tell-us-about-the-planet-its-inhabitants-and-ourselves/ |access-date=25 December 2025 |website=Life & Letters |publisher=The University of Texas at Austin}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Lee |first1=Taehwan |last2=Meyer |first2=Jean-Yves |last3=Burch |first3=John B. |last4=Pearce-Kelly |first4=Paul |last5=Foighil |first5=Diarmaid Ó |date=October 2008 |title=Not completely lost: two partulid tree snail species persist on the highest peak of Raiatea, French Polynesia |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/oryx/article/not-completely-lost-two-partulid-tree-snail-species-persist-on-the-highest-peak-of-raiatea-french-polynesia/E9D05A1E3BC746ECC62C7F504181B75D |journal=Oryx |language=en |volume=42 |issue=4 |pages=615–619 |doi=10.1017/S0030605308001427 |issn=1365-3008}}</ref> including 296 ''P. turgida''. Within a few years however, many of the captured specimens had died, with the ''P. turgida'' population dropping under 10. Post-mortem analyses of the snails indicated they had been infected by fungi likely belonging to the microsporidian genus ''Steinhausia.'' Because species of this genus typically infect aquatic snails, researchers believed the snail deaths may have been caused by a new species.''<ref name=":3" />''<ref name=":4" />
The last known ''Partula turgida'', Turgi, died 31 January 1996 at the London Zoo. After Turgi's death, the zoo erected a tombstone stating, "1.5 million years BC to January 1996" to mark the species' extinction.<ref name=":0" /> Turgi was named in the 2022 children's book ''The Late, Great Endlings: Stories of the Last Survivors'', written by Deborah Kerbel and illustrated by Aimee van Drimmelen.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Jorgensen |first=Krista |date=Winter 2022–2023 |title=The Late, Great Endlings: Stories of the Last Survivors |url=https://www.proquest.com/openview/1ebe1794fbdce4448bcd61fd67bd3d4d/1 |journal=Canadian Children's Book News |location=Toronto |volume=45 |issue=4 |pages=37–38 |via=ProQuest}}</ref>
''Partula turgida''{{'}}s population decrease and eventual extinction was closely watched and documented.<ref name=":0" /> It also marked the first known instance of a parasite causing a species' extinction.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":4">{{cite journal |author=Cunningham A. A. |author2=Daszak P. |name-list-style=amp |year=1998 |title=Extinction of a Species of Land Snail Due to Infection with a Microsporidian Parasite |journal=Conservation Biology |volume=12 |pages=1139–1141 |bibcode=1998ConBi..12.1139C |doi=10.1046/j.1523-1739.1998.97485.x |jstor=2387588 |s2cid=85093320 |number=5}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Partula species}} {{Taxonbar|from=Q309512}}
turgida Category:Extinct gastropods Category:Taxa named by William Harper Pease Category:Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Category:Gastropods described in 1864