Land snails are an integral part of native habitats throughout the Northeast, playing important roles in cycling organic material and creating soil, moving energy and nutrients in food chains, and hosting major wildlife parasites. This project informs the important conservation needs and opportunities associated with 245 land snail species of the northeastern United States, many of which are listed as Species of Greatest Conservation Need or Data Deficient by many of the 14 State Fish and Wildlife Agencies. This project will assist states in proactive participation in the USFWS Federal Prelisting Process and potentially lead to preventing or minimizing additional listings under the Federal Endangered Species Act.

The primary deliverable is a comprehensive Northeast Region Land Snail website, established by expanding and upgrading the existing land snail and slug website of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History with data compiled from other museum collections.

As of March 2018, there are now a total of 317 species profiles for the region, 311 with specimen records and another six that may be reported in future. Fifty of the species are non-native. Regional maps are completed and integrated for all profiles. Citations for all new profiles have been added to the References page. Nearly all species have images now. Older profiles have been updated and corrected for 30+ species. Illustrations by Kathy Schmidt are being added to profiles for species that occur in New York State.

The final product for this project is the website:

http://smasheasy.com/mollusks/index.html