The land and mangrove snail fauna of the islands of Banggi and Balambangan (Mollusca: Gastropoda)

We studied land and mangrove snails at four sites (three of which were limestone outcrops) on the islands of Balambangan and Banggi, within the proposed Tun Mustapha Marine Park. Both locations have island faunas with a moderate number of species: we found a total of 56 true land snail species, plus 11 intertidal Ellobiidae and Truncatellidae. Of the 56 land snails, at least six are short-range endemics of the Kudat-BanggiBalambangan-Balabac-Palawan region. In addition, several other species that occur here are rare or threatened. We conclude that the limestone outcrops of Banggi and Balambangan are essential to the survival of atleast 12 Malaysian land snail species. In view of uncontrolled logging and possibility ofplanned mining of limestone, we highly recommend conserving limestone outcrops of both Banggi and Balambangan as part of landbased degradation prevention at the proposedTun Mustapha Marine Park.