Snail discovered in desert oasis 850km west of Alice Springs

A POTENTIALLY native snail species has potentially been found in the middle of a desert oasis.

A yet unknown snail found in the middle of the Gibson Desert. PICTURE: ROB WHYTE (Toadshow)

A POTENTIALLY native snail species has potentially been found in the middle of a desert oasis.

The discovery was made in September as scientists and the Kiwirrkurra Aboriginal community spent two weeks surveying Australia’s most remote Indigenous Protected Area, 850km west of Alice Springs.

The Western Australian Museum’s snail researcher Corey Whisson said while the common garden snail was an introduced species, native snails were usually far smaller and more beautiful.

“They can also be incredibly small, so when the area we are surveying is 42,000 sq/km, finding a tiny snail is like finding a needle in a haystack the size of Belgium,” he said.

The scientific endeavour was part of the country’s largest nature discovery project, Bush Blitz.

Bush Blitz manager Jo Harding said the region was one of the most understudied in the country.

“With only about 25 per cent of Australia’s total biodiversity known to science, this area is like a giant black hole in our knowledge,” she said.

The Kiwirrkurra people have been an integral part of the survey effort, as they worked alongside the scientists and shared their deep local knowledge.

Kate Crossing from Central Desert Native Title Services said there had been a real buzz in the community in the fortnight of the blitz.

“The partnerships that have been built will be invaluable in continuing to look after the very special values of this country, from rare snails to iconic threatened species like the bilby,” she said.

The scientists were still investigating if this snail is a new species.

Bush Blitz is a pioneering nature-discovery partnership between the Australian Government,

BHP Billiton Sustainable Communities and Earthwatch Australia.

The Kiwirrkurra people declared their land an Indigenous Protected Area (IPA) in September 2014, joining a vast network of Aboriginal landowners managing their country for both cultural and environmental conservation across Australia.