Sun Apr 06 16:17:20 UTC 2025: ## New Land Snail Species Discovered in Maharashtra’s Konkan Region
**Mumbai, April 6, 2025** – A team of researchers from India and the UK have discovered a new species of land snail in the Konkan region of Maharashtra, India. The snail, named *Theobaldius konkanensis*, is endemic to the northern Western Ghats, a biodiversity hotspot that remains largely unstudied.
The discovery, published in the March 11, 2025, edition of *Molluscan Research*, highlights the region’s unexplored biodiversity. Lead authors Amrut Bhosale (Dahiwadi College), Tejas Thackeray and Akshay Khandekar (Thackeray Wildlife Foundation), Omkar Yadav (Amdar Shashikant Shinde Mahavidyalay), Tom S. White (The Natural History Museum, London), and Dinarzarde C. Raheem (Rajarata University of Sri Lanka and The Natural History Museum, London) led the research.
The researchers found *T. konkanensis* in several locations in Ratnagiri and Raigad districts, primarily in tropical evergreen and semi-evergreen forests at altitudes ranging from 80 to 240 meters. The snail’s shell is described as thick, conoidally depressed, and yellow-brown in color. It differs from other *Theobaldius* species in several key shell characteristics.
The researchers emphasize the importance of land snails as bioindicators, sensitive to climate change and human activity. They warn that increased anthropogenic activities in the region threaten the snail’s survival. The discovery underscores the need for further research into the region’s biodiversity and the conservation of this newly identified species. Samples of the snail have been deposited in several museums across India, including the National Centre for Biological Sciences in Bengaluru and the Bombay Natural History Museum in Mumbai.
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