How can research shape our understanding of the local natural world? In 1985 the smallest land snail in Pennsylvania, Punctum minutissimum, was reported to be in only 13 of the state’s 67 counties. With those kind of stats one might think it was a somewhat rare Pennsylvanian snail.
Over years of research Tim Pearce, Assistant Curator of our Section of Mollusks, has found this small snail in additional counties throughout PA. In March 2014 Dr. Pearce found it in the 67th county, making this snail common in 100 percent of counties across Pennsylvania! (at Carnegie Museum of Natural History)