A Field Guide to the Snails of Lord Howe Island

130 Family Punctidae (Pinhead or Dot Snails) Paralaoma goweri Iredale, 1944 Mountain Pinhead Snail Shell. Size: H = 1.3 mm, D = 1.9 mm. Colour: Deep golden-brown. Shape: Depressedly turbinate with a raised spire; sutures impressed; whorls rounded and tightly coiled. Sculpture: Protoconch with spiral lirae, teleoconch with moderately spaced radial ribs and microsculpture of spirals and faint radials. Aperture: Roundly lunate. Umbilicus: Moderately widely open. Animal. Not known. Key distinguishing features. Very similar to P. compar, but smaller and more tightly coiled with a higher spire and slightly more widely spaced ribs. Habitat and occurrence. Very rare. Known only from the summit of Mt Gower. Remarks. This species may be conspecific with P. compar . Paralaoma innesi Iredale, 1944 Innes’ Pinhead Snail Shell. Size: H = 0.95 mm, D = 1.7 mm. Colour: Golden. Shape: Depressedly turbinate with a low spire; sutures impressed; whorls rounded, slightly shouldered. Sculpture: Protoconch smooth; teleoconch with fine, closely spaced radial ribs and weak microspirals. Aperture: Roundly lunate. Umbilicus: Moderately widely open. Animal. Not known. Key distinguishing features. Small size, slightly shouldered whorls, closely spaced radial ribs, moderately widely open umbilicus. Habitat and occurrence. Most abundant on the summits of Mt Gower and Mt Lidgbird. Remarks. This species strongly resembles Charopinesta goweri , with which it co-occurs, but differs in its slightly shouldered whorls and smooth protoconch.