Wollastonaria vermetiformis (R. T. Lowe, 1855)
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
Synonym/s: Helix vermetiformis R. T. Lowe, 1855; Geomitra vermetiformis (R. T. Lowe, 1855); Hystricella oxytropis sensu Seddon, 2008 (partim) (non H. oxytropis R.T. Lowe, 1831); Wollastonia vermetiformis (R. T. Lowe, 1855)
Conservation Status
Missing (de Mattia et al., 2018)
Last record: 1985 (recent shells)
IUCN RedList status: Critically Endangered (Possibly Extinct)
Distribution & Habitat
Porto Santo, Madeiran Archipelago
Biology & Ecology
Hypodigm
Media
References
Original scientific description:
Lowe, R. T. (1855). Catalogus molluscorum pneumonatorum insularum Maderensium: or a list of all the land and freshwater shells, recent and fossil, of the Madeiran islands: arranged in groups according to their natural affinities; with diagnoses of the groups, and of the new or hitherto imperfectly defined species. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 22: 161-218. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7998.1854.tb07266.x
Other references:
Borges, P. A. V., et al. (eds.). (2008). Listagem dos fungos, flora e fauna terrestres dos arquipélagos da Madeira e Selvagens. Governo da Madeira, Funchal.
de Mattia, Willy, Neiber, Marco T. and Groh, Klaus. (2018). Revision of the genus-group Hystricella R. T. Lowe, 1855 from Porto Santo (Madeira Archipelago), with descriptions of new recent and fossil taxa (Gastropoda, Helicoidea, Geomitridae). Zookeys 732: 1-125. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.732.21677
Fernández-Palacios, José María, Fructuoso, Melania, Illera, Juan Carlos, Rando, Juan Carlos, de Nascimento, Lea, Fernández-Palacios, Enrique, Patiño, Jairo, Otto, Rüdiger, Castilla-Beltrán, Álvaro, González, Esther Martín, Orihuela-Rivero, Raúl, Alcover, Josep Antoni, Whittaker, Robert J. (2025). A synthesis of terrestrial species extinctions in the Macaronesian Islands and their correspondence with human occupancy. PNAS Nexus 4(8): pgaf215. https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgaf215 [Supplementary data (.docx)]
Groh, K. (2017). Hystricella vermetiformis. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2017: e.T107396913A107396917. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-3.RLTS.T107396913A107396917.en. Downloaded on 27 January 2018.
MolluscaBase eds. (2026). MolluscaBase. Wollastonaria vermetiformis (R. T. Lowe, 1855). Accessed at: https://molluscabase.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=1340238 on 2026-01-21
Seddon, M. B. (2008). An illustrated compendium of the landsnails and slugs of the Madeiran archipelago. Studies in Biodiversity and Systematics of Terrestrial Organisms from the National Museum of Wales. BIOTIR Reports 2. National Museum of Wales, Cardif.