The endemic land snails of the Fernando de Archipelago, Brasil

Abstract

Fernando de Noronha (henceforth ‘Noronha’) is an oceanic archipelago of volcanic origin, located ~350 km off the northeast coast of Brasil (Fig. 1). The eponymous main island was an important midway port in the Portuguese exploitation of Brasilian resources during the 16th and 17th centuries (Lins & Silva, 2013). The island was also briefly occupied by the British, French and Dutch. It also served as a prison until the mid-20th century (Pessoa, 2014).