Aaadonta constricta ssp. komakanensis

This is a minute ground-dwelling snail for which no shells (live or dead) have been found in recent years, despite recent extensive surveys of its island habitat of Koror. The subspecies was previously known only from Koror, where it was collected at a single locality in 1936 by Y. Kondo. The species is listed as Critically Endangered (Possibly Extinct) due to a very small and declining extent of occurrence and area of occupancy, the species being found in a single location, and a decline in availability and quality of its habitat. Additional surveys of the island are needed to verify whether the subspecies is in fact Extinct, but based on extinctions of endodontids elsewhere in the Pacific, as well as other extirpations of endemic land snails on Koror, optimism is low.

This is a minute ground-dwelling snail that was historically known from the island of Koror (Oreor), where it was collected at a single locality in 1936 by Y. Kondo (Solem 1976). The historical geographic range was less than 20km², and probably only approximately 7km² (R. Rundell pers.comm. 2011). The species was probably historically more abundant prior to its collection at only a single locality in 1936.

A. constricta komakanensis is (or was) threatened by destruction and modification of native lowland forest. Therefore it is not surprising that the species has probably been extirpated from the highly modified and deforested island of Koror. Disruption of the ground, rocks and leaf litter may be of particular significance to this and other endodontid species. Endodontoid land snails are among the most threatened land snails on Pacific Islands in the few places where they still exist (Solem 1983).