“If Cuba has a national animal, it’s these snails,” suggests Angus Davison, Professor of Evolutionary Genetics at the University of Nottingham.
The bright and beautifully coloured shells of the six species belonging to the Polymita family are a feast for the eyes. Striking, lollypop-swirl patterns are a hit with tourists, and, despite laws in place to try and stop it, a sizeable black market satisfies their appetite for shells, often strung together on necklaces.
Polymita are already heavily under threat in the region due to habitat loss and increasing temperatures due to climate change. “The icing on the cake is the illegal collection,” says Davison. “There’s all this trade going on that’s completely unregulated.”
He’s been working with snails for more than 20 years. By mapping the genome of each species of Polymita, he’s trying to get to the bottom of why the snails have such striking shell colours: “I want to understand where it comes from and what forms of natural selection are operating to form that.”
This, Davison hopes, will help to conserve the endangered molluscs. Although there are 6 known species of Polymita, many snails in the forests look very similar, making it difficult to identify the different species visually. But genomic approaches can more accurately characterise individual snails, enabling breeding of the most endangered species and preserving their evolutionary history.
This is where Bernardo Reyes-Tur, Professor of Conservation Biology at the Universidad de Oriente, comes in. He oversees the breeding programme in captivity, with the ultimate goal of reintroducing the snails into the wild. Genetic insights from Prof Davison can also ensure each Polymita species will be released into areas which will give them the best chance to flourish.
But what else can be done to stop the extinction of these species? Local efforts to improve awareness of the snails and their endangered status are on the right trail: “People should not be buying them. If you don’t have the market, then we don’t need to worry about illegal trade,” says Davison.
Economic desperation is also thought to be contributing to the continued illegal collection and trade in shells, and so turbo-charging the ecotourism industry – which benefits from the wellbeing of the animals rather than their deaths – could also be a profitable and therefore protective strategy.
Fortunately, due to the recent media attention, the online markets for the Polymita have quietened down somewhat. But not every species has been so fortunate. Shells of the candy cane land snail of the Caribbean (Liguus virgineus) are still being sold online. For Davison, “This is the tip of the iceberg as far as I’m concerned.”