Photos: Gorgeous Neon Malaysian Snails

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Plectostoma laidlawi

malaysian snails

(Image credit: Liew Thor-Seng)

They look like ethereal beings from another planet, but they're actually newly discovered species of snails. And sadly, some of them are already going extinct.Read full story

Plectostoma salpidomon

malaysian snails

(Image credit: Liew Thor-Seng)

A team of biologists catalogued 31 species of the snail genus Plectostoma from Malaysia, Sumatra and Thailand, 10 of which were new species. Read full story

Plectostoma sinyumensis

malaysian snails

(Image credit: Liew Thor-Seng)

But the snails live on limestone hills mined by cement companies, which threaten to destroy the snails and their habitat along with them.Read full story

Plecostoma siphonostomon

malaysian snails

(Image credit: Liew Thor-Seng)

Dressed in shells of neon orange, lilac and crimson, the snails resemble tiny jewelry. Read full story

Plectostoma christae

malaysian snails

(Image credit: Liew Thor-Seng)

The snails flaunt all shell-coiling rules, by having very irregularly coiled and ornamented shells.Read full story

micro-CT-images

malaysian snails

(Image credit: Liew Thor-Seng)

Thor-Seng Liew Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden, The Netherlands, imaged the shells using a micro-CT-scanner, a device that produces 3-D X-rays of tiny objects. Read full story

Megaustenia heliciformis

(Image credit: Liew Thor-Seng)

Other snail species found in Malaysia include Megaustenia heliciformis from Kelantan.Read full story

Pterocyclos

(Image credit: Liew Thor-Seng)

Pterocyclos is found in Sabah, Malaysia.Read full story

Rhinocochlis nasuta

(Image credit: Liew Thor-Seng)

Rhinocochlis nasuta is found in Sarawak, Malaysia.Read full story

Plectostoma grandispinosum

(Image credit: Liew Thor-Seng)

Plectostoma grandispinosum is found in Sarawak, Malaysia.Read full story

Everettia subconsul

(Image credit: Liew Thor-Seng)

Everettia subconsul is found in Sabah, Malaysia.Read full story

Tanya Lewis
Tanya Lewis
Staff Writer
Tanya was a staff writer for Live Science from 2013 to 2015, covering a wide array of topics, ranging from neuroscience to robotics to strange/cute animals. She received a graduate certificate in science communication from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a bachelor of science in biomedical engineering from Brown University. She has previously written for Science News, Wired, The Santa Cruz Sentinel, the radio show Big Picture Science and other places. Tanya has lived on a tropical island, witnessed volcanic eruptions and flown in zero gravity (without losing her lunch!). To find out what her latest project is, you can visit her website.