Apparently, it's a snail-beat-snail world out there.
Just a month after being crowned the smallest land snail in the world, the Chinese Angustopila dominikae has to give up its title to a newly discovered itsy-bitsy species.
A team of Dutch and Malaysian researchers recently found an even tinier land snail, named Acmella nana, on the Malaysian island of Borneo -- it's about 0.16 millimeters smaller than Angustopila.In a paper published in the journal ZooKeys on Monday, the researchers describe the small species as being an average size of 0.7 millimeters.
Advertisement
And, it turns out that Acmella nana wasn't the only little snail on the island.
"Almost half of the species in Borneo are less than two millimeters in size," Dr. Menno Schilthuizen, a professor of evolution at Leiden University in the Netherlands and a co-author of the paper, told The Huffington Post in an email. "Our paper was in review when that paper on Angustopila dominikae came out and it was only then that we realized that one of 'our' species was actually smaller."
The researchers also identified 47 other new species of snail in Borneo. The new findings are based on over 25 years of research and documentation of Malaysia's mollusks.
To find the previously unknown creatures, Schilthuizen said that they gathered bags of soil from the foot of limestone cliffs and then tossed the soil into buckets of water.
Advertisement
"All the sand and clay sinks, but the flotsam contains thousands of empty snail shells, which float," he said. "We would probably not have seen them by the naked eye."
Next, the researchers hope to find living specimens of their newfound mollusks in an effort to better understand and protect them.
"Our method yields mostly empty shells," Schilthuizen said, "so we are still in the dark about their ecology and behavior."
The newly discovered land snails are slow-moving and tend to remain in the same small habitats for generations. In fact, seven of the new species can only be found in the highest mountain in Malaysia, Borneo's Mount Kinabalu. Another newfound species lives only at a cave entrance in Malaysia's second highest mountain, Mount Trusmadi.
The land snails, however, are not small enough to be crowned the smallest in the world. A sea snail, Ammonicera minortalis, holds that record as it ranges in size from about 0.32 to 0.46 millimeters in length.
Also on HuffPost Science:
World's Most Extreme Animals
Support HuffPost
Our 2024 Coverage Needs You
Your Loyalty Means The World To Us
At HuffPost, we believe that everyone needs high-quality journalism, but we understand that not everyone can afford to pay for expensive news subscriptions. That is why we are committed to providing deeply reported, carefully fact-checked news that is freely accessible to everyone.
Whether you come to HuffPost for updates on the 2024 presidential race, hard-hitting investigations into critical issues facing our country today, or trending stories that make you laugh, we appreciate you. The truth is, news costs money to produce, and we are proud that we have never put our stories behind an expensive paywall.
As Americans head to the polls in 2024, the very future of our country is at stake. At HuffPost, we believe that a free press is critical to creating well-informed voters. That's why our journalism is free for everyone, even though other newsrooms retreat behind expensive paywalls.
Our journalists will continue to cover the twists and turns during this historic presidential election. With your help, we'll bring you hard-hitting investigations, well-researched analysis and timely takes you can't find elsewhere. Reporting in this current political climate is a responsibility we do not take lightly, and we thank you for your support.
Thank you for your past contribution to HuffPost. We are sincerely grateful for readers like you who help us ensure that we can keep our journalism free for everyone.
The stakes are high this year, and our 2024 coverage could use continued support. Would you consider becoming a regular HuffPost contributor?
Dear HuffPost Reader
Thank you for your past contribution to HuffPost. We are sincerely grateful for readers like you who help us ensure that we can keep our journalism free for everyone.
The stakes are high this year, and our 2024 coverage could use continued support. If circumstances have changed since you last contributed, we hope you’ll consider contributing to HuffPost once more.