A Field Guide to the Snails of Lord Howe Island

92 Family Helicarionidae (Glass snails and semislugs) Howearion belli Iredale, 1944 Beautiful Semislug Shell. Size: H = 6.5-8.1 mm, D = 13-16.6 mm. Colour: 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. Cream, brown or reddish brown with darker brown spots on side of foot, brown stripes leading to eyestalks, and tiny white specks covering body. Key distinguishing features. Differs from other genera in its reduced, ear- shaped shell; differs from congener H. hilli in its darker body colour and the absence of distinct shell sculpture. Habitat and occurrence. Summits and upper slopes of Mt Gower and Mt Lidgbird, including Erskine Valley and Goat House Track. Found in litter, usually under dead palm fronds on the ground; occasionally in living trees. Very abundant on the summit of Mt Gower. Remarks. There is considerable variation in body colour in this species. Howearion belli 10 mm