New microsnail subspecies discovered in Masungi Georeserve

MANILA, Philippines — A snail with a shell the size of an ant found in Rizal’s Masungi Georeserve three years ago has been confirmed to be a new subspecies of a micro-snail by a group of Filipino scientists from UP Los Baños.

The new subspecies was named Hypselostoma latispira masungiensis. It is a karst-dependent land snail with a size of less than five millimeters and can be found attached to limestone boulders, feeding on lichens and other vegetation.

The discovery was published in the Philippine Journal of Systematic Biology by Harold Lipae, Angelique Estabillo, Ian Kendrich Fontanilla and Ryan de Chavez.

The study noted that Hypselostoma latispira had only been recorded in Baguio City until its subspecies  was found in Masungi.

The Masungi snail was distinguished from those found in Baguio due to several distinct characteristics, such as its shell and size. However, scientists said the genetic similarity was at 99.98 percent.

“H. latispira collected from Masungi Georeserve is hereby proposed as a new subspecies based on shell size, shell shape variations, presence of additional apertural tooth and novel site congruent clade separation of Masungi and Baguio H. latispira,” the researchers said.