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:Powell A. W. B., New Zealand Mollusca, William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1979 Powelliphanta hochstetteri anatokiensis Powell, 1938 Powelliphanta hochstetteri bicolor Powell, 1930 Powelliphanta hochstetteri consobrina Powell, 1936 Powelliphanta hochstetteri hochstetteri (Pfeiffer, 1862) Powelliphanta hochstetteri obscura Beutler, 1901
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: .O'Connor A. C. (June) 1945. Notes on the Eggs of New Zealand Paryphantidae, With Description of a New Subgenus. Transactions of the Royal Society of New Zealand, volume 5, 1945-46, pages 54-57.
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