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The shell of a Giant Land Snail (Powelliphanta), common name amber snail.
There are 21 species and 51 subspecies within the genus. The relationship between the species is complex, and it has been suggested that the group Powelliphanta gilliesi-traversi-hochstetteri-rossiana-lignaria-superba forms a ring species.
In November 2003 a subspecies, thought to be extinct, was rediscovered alive on the West Coast; it had last been documented on the basis of shell fragments in 1934.
These large snails are endemic to New Zealand, in small areas of the North and South Islands, with the greatest diversity of species in the mountains of northwest Nelson in the South Island.
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