Madeiran land snail type specimens ‘discovered’ in review of Booth Museum shell collections

Researchers have uncovered the first recorded examples of several species of land snail in a vintage shell collection from a Victorian scientist owned by the Booth Museum of Natural History.

Around 170 years ago, the naturalist and conchologist Reverend Richard Thomas Lowe (1802–1874) travelled to Madeira and the Canary Islands to collect the shells of land snails. The collection was eventually donated to the Booth Museum in Brighton.

Now many years later, researchers from National Museum of Wales, Cardiff, have discovered that the snails are the first examples of the species ever collected and recorded. Research into snails, which continues today will mean scientists will be able to study these original shells – some of which may have become extinct.