Teresa Rose Osborne, PhD
LightNews LightNews
banner
trosborne.bsky.social
Teresa Rose Osborne, PhD
@trosborne.bsky.social
310 followers 310 following 170 posts
Mariana Islands invertebrate conservation biologist 🏝️🇲🇵 Postdoc on ant locomotion 🐜 PhD in Pacific Island land snails 🐌🐚 I go by Rose, she/her 🖖
Posts Replies Media Videos
trosborne.bsky.social
#HappyHalloween!
Did you know -
Hermit crabs use snail skeletons to cover their butts 😱
🐚 Hermit crabs don't build their shells
🐌 But snails do!
A snail's shell is its skeleton and grows as the snail grows. Hermit crabs use dead snails' shells protect their soft backsides. Creepy!
☠️ #JoyOfMolluscs
A hermit crab inside an adult akaleha' tree snail shell. A small hermit crab inside a subadult akaleha' tree snail shell. A large hermit crab inside a seashell.
October 30, 2025 at 11:19 PM
trosborne.bsky.social
These 2 showed up on our doorstep just days after my birthday, when they were maybe 2 months old. Raising them is the unexpected birthday gift that keeps on giving 🖤🖤
Woman with two small black dogs
October 1, 2025 at 8:40 PM
trosborne.bsky.social
Happy #MolluscMonday!
Snail shells in traditional Pacific arts:
🐚In the Marianas, Chamorro & Refaluwasch people used akaleha' tree snails to make beaded bags & jewelry
🌏Many Pacific cultures use seashells for islands in stick chart maps, combining art, science, & geography
#JoyOfMolluscs
Akaleha' shell purse. Stick chart of the Marshall Islands.
September 21, 2025 at 10:11 PM
trosborne.bsky.social
How many akaleha’ can you find in this photo? I see 2 ✌️
#InverteFest #JoyOfMolluscs 🐌 5/5
Snails hanging from the underside of vine leaves: slightly above and left of center, upper right quadrant of photo behind woody stem.
August 31, 2025 at 12:30 AM
trosborne.bsky.social
Juvenile akaleha’ are a bit harder to find 🔍
#InverteFest #JoyOfMolluscs 🐌 4/5
Juvenile snail crawling on the top of the leaf in the “1 o’clock” position of sapling.
August 31, 2025 at 12:30 AM
trosborne.bsky.social
Let’s make it a little harder…
#InverteFest #JoyOfMolluscs 🐌 3/5
Snail hanging from the underside of a leaf on the left end of the branch.
August 31, 2025 at 12:30 AM
trosborne.bsky.social
Can you find both akaleha’?
#InverteFest #JoyOfMolluscs 🐌 2/5
Snails on the underside of vine leaves: lower-most leaf on the right side of vine stem, third-highest leaf on the left side of vine stem.
August 31, 2025 at 12:30 AM
trosborne.bsky.social
Want an #SnailSunday challenge? 🤓 Try to find the snails in these photos!
Partula lutaensis (Family Partulidae, Chamorro: akaleha' Luta)

Answers in the alt text

This snail was much harder to find in the field than in the photo

#InverteFest #JoyOfMolluscs 🐌 1/5
Snail hanging from the underside of the right leaf of sapling.
August 31, 2025 at 12:30 AM
trosborne.bsky.social
At first glance, Omphalotropis snails can also look like baby akaleha’, but Omphalotropis shells are pointier and have more whorls
#InverteFest #SnailSaturday #JoyOfMolluscs 🐌 4/4
Omphalotropis snail crawling on moss.
August 30, 2025 at 2:07 AM
trosborne.bsky.social
Under a microscope, Elasmias look very different from baby akaleha’. Elasmias have transparent shells and “teeth” in the shell opening
🔬
But since I can’t collect baby akaleha’ to look at them under a scope (they’re endangered), this doesn’t help!

#InverteFest #SnailSaturday #JoyOfMolluscs 🐌 3/4
Two Elasmias shells as viewed under a microscope, on top of a mm ruler. The larger of the two shells is just over 2 mm in shell height. A small projection called an apertural tooth is visible in the shell opening.
August 30, 2025 at 2:07 AM
trosborne.bsky.social
In the field, baby akaleha’ can look similar to Elasmias snails. The largest Elasmias are ~2 mm vs the baby akaleha’ are ~4 mm. Somehow, it’s even harder for me to tell them apart in photos - even with a ruler 📏

#InverteFest #SnailSaturday #JoyOfMolluscs 🐌 2/4
Juvenile Partula lutaensis hanging from a palm frond, next to a mm ruler. The snail is about 5 mm in shell height. Elasmias crawling on a leaf, next to a mm ruler. The snail is about 3 mm in shell height.
August 30, 2025 at 2:07 AM
trosborne.bsky.social
Sometimes, I confuse baby akaleha’ (Mariana Islands tree snails in Family Partulidae) with other, smaller species

Here’s what a baby akaleha’ looks like 👶🐌
#InverteFest #SnailSaturday #JoyOfMolluscs 1/4
Juvenile Partula lutaensis on the underside of a leaf, with one tentacle extended.
August 30, 2025 at 2:07 AM
trosborne.bsky.social
Liardetia sp., Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands 🇲🇵

#InverteFest #JoyOfMolluscs
Tiny, disc-shaped snail, which has stuck itself to the underside of a leaf.
August 29, 2025 at 5:35 AM
trosborne.bsky.social
Elasmias cf. quadrasi, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands

#InverteFest #JoyOfMolluscs
Small snail hanging on a leaf. Small snail held in a researcher’s fingers, with the shell opening facing the camera.
August 29, 2025 at 4:07 AM
trosborne.bsky.social
Cocoon, Guam

#InverteFest
Tan cocoon hanging from the underside of a limeberry branch.
August 29, 2025 at 2:19 AM
trosborne.bsky.social
Speedy Omphalotropis land snail crawling along the inside of a plastic terrarium 🏎️

#InverteFest #JoyOfMolluscs 🐌
August 28, 2025 at 11:36 PM
trosborne.bsky.social
A few more introduced spp on Guam that we'd rather not have in the Northern Mariana Islands

1️⃣ beetle eating flowers 🪲

2️⃣ lined tree snail 🐌
Beautiful, but they don't belong here

3️⃣ great banded hornet 🐝

#InverteFest #JoyOfMolluscs 3/3
Large beetle crawling on tree flowers. Line tree snail with a striped, pointed shell hanging from a narrow tree stem. Very large great banded hornet resting on the underside of a breadfruit leaf.
August 27, 2025 at 10:49 PM
trosborne.bsky.social
Little fire ants 🐜🔥
These are a terrible invasive on Guam
We're trying to keep them out of the Northern Marianas

In June, I went to Guam with other Fish & Wildlife, Invasive Spp, & Biosecurity folks to learn to detect & ID these jerks if (when) they reach the CNMI

#InverteFest 2/3
Many little fire ants on a peanut butter bait stick.
August 27, 2025 at 10:49 PM
trosborne.bsky.social
Some invasive inverts in the Mariana Islands

1️⃣ coconut rhinoceros beetle 🪲
These jerks are on Rota, but our invasive species team keeps them contained 🏅

2️⃣ succineid snails 🐌
We might have native ones, too, but this one was at my apt, so I think it's introduced

#InverteFest #JoyOfMolluscs 1/3
Bucket of coconut rhinoceros beetles, slowly dying in ethanol. Succineid land snail crawling on a white surface next to a mm ruler. Shell is about 15 mm long.
August 27, 2025 at 10:49 PM
trosborne.bsky.social
Splotch or snail? I see 2 akaleha’
#InverteFest #JoyOfMolluscs 🐌 5/5
Snails crawling or hanging on the underside of leaves of two samplings: lower-left leaf of foreground sapling, upper-right leaf of sapling immediately behind foreground sapling.
August 26, 2025 at 10:49 PM
trosborne.bsky.social
How many akaleha’ can you find in this photo? I see 4
#InverteFest #JoyOfMolluscs 🐌 4/5
Snails hanging from the underside of compound leaves, from left to right: two snails on the lowest leaf on the left (one of a leaflet near the end of the leaf, one of the stalk just to the right of previous snail), central leaf on the second highest right leaflet, terminal leaflet of the upper-right leaf.
August 26, 2025 at 10:49 PM
trosborne.bsky.social
Can you find both akaleha’?
#InverteFest #JoyOfMolluscs 🐌 3/5
Snails hanging from the underside of sapling leaves, near leaf tips: just above and to the left of center, below and slightly left of center.
August 26, 2025 at 10:49 PM
trosborne.bsky.social
Juvenile akaleha’ are a bit harder to find 🔍
#InverteFest #JoyOfMolluscs 🐌 2/5
Juvenile snail on the underside of the large central leaflet of the compound leaf near the center of the photo.
August 26, 2025 at 10:49 PM
trosborne.bsky.social
Want an #InverteFest challenge? 🤓 Try to find the snails in these photos!
Partula lutaensis (Family Partulidae, Chamorro: akaleha' Luta)

Answers in the alt text

We’ll start off easy…

#JoyOfMolluscs 🐌 1/5
Snail hanging from the underside of the lowest, left-most leaf of sapling.
August 26, 2025 at 10:49 PM
trosborne.bsky.social
Samoana fragilis (Family Partulidae, Chamorro: akaleha'), found on Rota Island in the Northern Mariana Islands and on Guam

These snails have translucent shells, so color differences are from their flesh, not their shells

#InverteFest #JoyOfMolluscs 🐌
Snail crawling up a screw pine leaf. The flesh under the largest shell whorl is bright yellow with thin, dark brown lines. Under smaller whorls, the snail is mostly dark brown with yellow splotches. The snail’s head is dark gray, and its tail is pale gray. Snail crawling up a tree trunk. The snail’s upper tentacles and the top of its head are dark gray, and its lower tentacles, foot, and tail are pale beige. The flesh under the snail’s shell is dark brown with large, pale gold splotches. Snail hanging from the underside of a leaf. Under the largest shell whorl, the snail has large, golden splotches on dark brown. Under smaller whorls, the snail is mostly dark brown with smaller golden spots.
August 26, 2025 at 12:12 AM