Tuhinga 21: 75–98 Copyright © Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (2010) Changes in the terrestrial molluscan fauna of Miti‘äro, southern Cook Islands Fred J. Brook*, Richard K. Walter** and Jacqueline A. Craig*** * PO Box 3123, Onerahi, Whangarei, New Zealand (
[email protected]) ** Department of Anthropology, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand (
[email protected]) *** 31 Yeovil Rd, Te Atatu Peninsula, Auckland, New Zealand (
[email protected]) ABSTRACT: Thirty-seven species of terrestrial molluscs (36 landsnails and one slug) are recorded from Miti‘äro, a low-lying makatea island in the southern Cook Islands. The fauna was found to consist predominantly of non-indigenous and cryptogenic species, and lacked local endemics. Comparison of fossil and modern assemblages indicates declines and extirpation/extinction of some species, including three species of Endodontidae, over the last several hundred years. There have also been synanthropic introductions of many non-indigenous species, beginning in the prehistoric period, and including a major influx over the last 100 years or so of species ultimately derived from source areas outside the Pacific basin. KEYWORDS: Pacific Ocean, landsnail fauna, fossil landsnails, non-indigenous species, extinctions, Holocene faunal changes. Introduction earliest known collections of landsnails from Miti‘äro were made by Sir Peter Buck in 1929 and are held by Miti‘äro (latitude 19°52'S, longitude 157°42'W) in the the Bernice P.Bishop Museum, Honolulu. Craig (1995) Cook Islands archipelago, southeastern Polynesia, is in a pro duced the first account of the landsnail fauna of Miti‘äro, group of four islands collectively known as Ngaputoru.