Snails on a tiny rocky islet evolved before scientists' eyes. The marine snails were reintroduced after a toxic algal bloom wiped them out from the skerry. While the researchers intentionally brought ...

Dense groups of marine snails called Littorina saxatilis once thrived on a group of Swedish islands called the Koster archipelago. But in 1988, a massive bloom of toxic algae hit the islands, and ...

A tiny freshwater snail from New Zealand is giving scientists a glimpse into evolution in motion. University of Iowa biologists have traced the snail's evolutionary history through its genome and ...

At one point there were only some 700 snail kites left in the world.But in the last decade or so, these dusky, red-eyed little raptors, found only in Florida, have made a comeback. Their rebound may ...

Tom has a Master's degree in Journalism. His editorial work covers anything from archaeology and the environment to technology and culture. Tom has a Master's degree in Journalism. His editorial work ...

Science has not exactly been kind to the rough periwinkle. For one, taxonomists keep forgetting the species, known to malacologists as Littorina saxatilis, exists. It’s been “discovered” so many times ...

The act of puncture – stabbing something with a sharp tool – is incredibly widespread in the natural world. Examples of ...

Snails (Gastropoda) are a stroke of luck for paleontologists: because of their hard shells, these animals are very often preserved as fossils. Snails therefore form an important and well represented ...

University of Iowa biologists discovered that a New Zealand freshwater snail duplicated its entire genome, capturing a rare evolutionary transitory state. The finding shows how large-scale genetic ...