PILSBRy
Search every digitized Bishop Museum terrestrial, freshwater, and marine mollusk record through the Pacific Island Land Snail Biodiversity Repository.
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Explore/Malacology
Malacology
One of the most comprehensive collections of Pacific island land snails in the world — and one of the largest mollusk collections anywhere.
6+ Million
Specimens
400+
Undescribed Species
479
Endemic Species
Active
Captive Rearing Program
The collections
Mollusks are the second most diverse group of animals on Earth, and Pacific island land snails have the highest recorded extinction rate of any major animal group — making the Museum’s collection all the more important. It includes representatives of many extinct, endangered, and threatened species.
The first acquisition was the Andrew Garrett Collection, purchased in 1894. The collection’s subsequent history spans numerous expeditions across the Pacific and Indo-West Pacific and more than 30 major private collections — including the Thaanum and Langford Collection of approximately 160,000 marine specimens, C. M. Burgess’s worldwide cowries (2002), and Dr. E. A. Kay’s extraordinary collection, gifted with her notes, photos, and literature in 2009.
The collections database
Search 298,358 Malacology specimens
Records from 1808 to today, drawn from the Museum’s published data.
HolotypeOstodes stricta
BPBM 10004
Gar Coll
Vatulele, Fiji
ParatypeOstodes liberatus
BPBM 10005
Viti Levu, Fiji
TypeCarelia paradoxa waipouliensis
BPBM 100173
Cooke, C.M. Jr.; Cooke, C.M. Jr., 1930
Kauaʻi
TypeCarelia paradoxa waipouliensis
BPBM 100179
Cooke, C.M. Jr.; Cooke, C.M. Jr., 1930
Kauaʻi
TypeCarelia necra spaldingi
BPBM 100182
Cooke, C.M. Jr.; Cooke, C.M. Jr., 1930
Kauaʻi
TypePlacostylus seemanni mbengensis
BPBM 10032
Beqa, Fiji
TypePlacostylus seemanni mbengensis
BPBM 10033
Beqa, Fiji
TypePlacostylus gracilis isaaci
BPBM 10034
Beqa, Fiji
Research
8 publications
Papers, reports and books by Malacology staff, with the PDF where there is one — readable in place and open to questions.
All Malacology publications ›2025
First record of the introduced thrush cowrie, Naria turdus (Cypraeidae) in the U. S. Virgin Islands.Polhemus, D.A. · Gloria Maris
2025
First record of Mieniplotia scabra (Gastropoda: Thiaridae) in Hawaiʻi: Another non-native introduction to Hawaiʻi’s already imperiled freshwater systemsHayes, K.A., J. Slapcinsky, C. Atta, E.E. Strong, D. B.T., T.P. Kinzler, M.M.Y. Hill, J.R. Kim, and N.W. Yeung · Bishop Museum Occasional Papers
2023
Tiny snails with large distributions: systematics and delimitation of the Pacific land snails Pacificella and Lamellidea (Stylommatophora: Achatinellidae: PacificellinaeGoulding, T.C., N.W. Yeung, J. Slapcinsky, E.E. Strong, J.R. Kim, F. Brook, and K.A. Hayes · Bulletin of the Society of Systematic Biologists
2023
The trail less traveled: Envisioning a new approach to identifying key food resources for threatened Hawaiian arboreal snailsMeyer, W.M., K.A. Hayes, N.W. Yeung, E.J. Crane III, A. Turvey, C. LeBlanc, and A.R.O. Cavalcanti · Nature Conservation
2023
New records of Otala lactea (Müller, 1774) and Zachrysia provisoria (Pfeiffer, 1858) in Hawaii: using collaborative networks to combat invasive sleeper populationsHayes, K.A., C.C. Christensen, J.R. Kim, C.M. Kishimoto, J.N. Matsunaga, and N.W. Yeung · BioInvasions Records
2023
A note on the snail host of Ascocotyle felippei Travasso, 1928 (Digenea: Heterophyidae), a parasite of Hawaiian stream fishesChristensen, C.C. · Bishop Museum Occasional Papers
Kāhuli and their kin
Research
Pūpū Ola — keeping kāhuli alive
Native Hawaiian snails are culturally and biologically important, and many are threatened by invasive species and habitat loss. The department runs an active captive rearing program, hosts the annual Kāhuli Festival, and recently received a $1.5M grant to protect endangered Hawaiian land snails — work that pairs one of the world’s great historical collections with living conservation.
View our data
Deeper tools kept by the department itself.
Get involved
Outreach & Resources
The Malacology Department opens doors to one of the world’s most significant molluscan biodiversity collections.
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Quick Guides
Biodiversity is inextricably linked to healthy ecosystem services and functions, and by extension public health, biosecurity, agriculture, and the economy.
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Snailblazers Card Game
Play the card game! Think you can handle the heat of Snail Blazers TCG? Play against friends using an army of Hawaiian snails and their special abilities.
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BIORETS
The National Science Foundation has awarded the Bishop Museum and partners in the Hawai‘i Department of Education, ‘Iolani’s Community Science program, and the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa a three-year BIORETS Site award.
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Help Save Our Snails!
The Hawaiian land snail fauna is indisputably one of the most diverse in the world relative to land area, with more than 759 species in 13 families.
Learn more ›Department staff
6 people
Norine W. Yeung, Ph.D.
Malacology Curator
808-848-4118
norine@bishopmuseum.org
Jaynee R. Kim, M.S.
Non-Marine Malacology Collection Manager
808-848-4118
jaynee.kim@bishopmuseum.org
Regina “Regie” Kawamoto
Marine Malacology Collection Technician
808-847-8218
reginak@hawaii.edu
August Sullivan
Research Specialist
Jan Kealoha
Pūpū Ola Captive Rearing Coordinator
Mandilee Hill
Collections Technician
Visits & loans
Please contact the researcher responsible for curatorial oversight of the collection you wish to visit or request loans from. For terrestrial mollusks, contact Dr. Norine W. Yeung.
norine@bishopmuseum.orgBe a part of our story
Celebrate the extraordinary history, culture, and environment of Hawaiʻi and the Pacific with a gift to Bishop Museum. As a partner in the Museum’s work, you help sustain the collections, the research and the knowledge behind every record on this site.
