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Tuhinga 21: 75-98
ABSTRACT: Thirty-seven species of terrestrial molluscs (36 landsnails and one slug) are recorded from Miti'āro, a low-lying makatea island in the southern Cook Islands. The fauna was found to consist predominantly of non-indigenous and cryptogenic species, and lacked local endemics. Comparison of fossil and modern assemblages indicates declines and extirpation/extinction of some species, including three species of Endodontidae, over the last several hundred years. There have also been synanthropic introductions of many non-indigenous species, beginning in the prehistoric period, and including a major influx over the last 100 years or so of species ultimately derived from source areas outside the Pacific basin.
KEYWORDS: Pacific Ocean, landsnail fauna, fossil landsnails, non-indigenous species,extinctions, Holocene faunal changes.