Powelliphanta hochstetteri, known as one of the amber snails, is a species of large, carnivorous land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusc in the family Rhytididae.

Distribution

This species is endemic to the Marlborough and Nelson provinces of the South Island of New Zealand. There are five subspecies:

Description

Powelliphanta hochstetteri was originally described under the name Helix hochstetteri by German malacologist Ludwig Karl Georg Pfeiffer in 1862. He described it according to the shell only, which geologist German Ferdinand von Hochstetter had brought from the New Zealand. The specific name hochstetteri is in honor of Ferdinand von Hochstetter.

Life cycle

The shape of the eggs is oval and they are seldom constant in dimensions: 12 ×.