A Field Guide to the Snails of Lord Howe Island

91 Genus Howearion Iredale, 1944 Shell. Size: H = 6.5-9.1 mm, D = 13-17 mm. Colour: Golden to deep golden-brown, glossy. Shape: Ear-shaped, with rapidly expanding whorls; whorl profile rounded; spire and apex flattened. Sculpture: Protoconch and teleoconch smooth. Aperture: Ovately lunate. Umbilicus: Closed. Animal. Yellowish cream to reddish brown with darker spots on side of foot, brown stripes leading to eyestalks and tiny white specks covering body. Caudal horn large. Mantle lobes moderately large; shell lappets wide at base, narrowing slowly to blunt rounded tips; fused at base at front. Habitat and occurrence. Widespread across the island, Howearion hilli in the lowland areas and H. belli on the summits and upper slopes of the southern mountains. Primarily a litter dweller, usually found under dead palm fronds on the ground, but sometimes found crawling on live trees. Remarks. Differs from all other genera in its reduced, globosely ear-shaped shell with a rapidly increasing last whorl and wide aperture. Malabar Kim’s Lookout Transit Hill Intermediate Hill Mt Lidgbird Mt Gower ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ● H. belli ● H. hilli