Rare snail found near Woodstock in first regional sighting in 20 years

An endangered tiny snail thought to have vanished from Ontario’s mainland has been found near Woodstock, its first sighting in Southwestern Ontario in 20 years.

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The discovery of two of the snails is significant because it suggests there may be a path to recover the rare shagreen snail population in Ontario, sensitive to extremes from climate change, which has contributed to the decline of the species, a biologist says.

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“This is a great and exciting recovery,” said Scott Gillingwater, a species-at-risk biologist with the London-based Upper Thames River Conservation Authority.

The snails were found on protected property, east of Woodstock.

Only about one centimeter wide, with a yellow and brown shell, the shagreen snail was last found in Southwestern Ontario about 20 years ago in the Leamington area.

“It represents a very unique range extension for the species because it’s a few hundred kilometers north of the most recent record, and this may be the only mainland population left,” Gillingwater said Tuesday.

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The shagreen – its scientific name is inflectarius inflectus – is sensitive to harsh environmental conditions, such as extreme temperatures, drought and floods. These conditions have become more frequent from climate change, contributing to the species’ decline, scientists say.

While the snails haven’t been seen in two decades on Ontario’s mainland, they can still be found on Pelee and Middle islands in Lake Erie’s western basin.

The first Shagreen was found at the Snake Woods nature preserve, a protected wetland east of Woodstock. Another was found last month at a different location on the property, signaling there may be more in the area, Gillingwater said.

It took time to verify the discoveries because the first snail originally was misidentified, Gillingwater said. The verification came through iNaturalist, an app that allows people to submit animal sightings for evaluation by a global community of experts.

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Both specimens were properly identified by two Canadian mollusk experts.

“If it hadn’t been for iNaturalist, they may have never been properly identified,” Gillingwater said.

Finding the species again in Southwestern Ontario revives hopes it can be rehabilitated through protection efforts, he said.

“We’ve only found two so far. But because it is such a rare species, that’s very, very heartening and positive,” Gillingwater said.

“And since this is a privately owned nature preserve, we have the ability to do whatever work is necessary to help the species,” he added. “We also want to continue surveys to see how extensive the population is on the property and hopefully, in the future, maybe work with neighboring properties to see if it exists there too.”

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