LOST WONDERS

Ancient species, forever gone.

The unfortunate distinction of the probable first extinction of the 21st century goes to a species of microscopic snail that, for millions of years, lived on a single limestone hill in a Malaysian forest. An eminent Dutch biologist first described them in 1952, naming this member of the genus Plectostoma sciaphilum, the second word meaning “lover of shadows.” It was last seen alive in 2001 and declared extinct in 2014, a victim of human demand for concrete, which also claimed Bukit Panching, the hill where the species once thrived and which is now a lake filling the hole that cement companies left in their wake. This is just one of 10 “tales” recounting the loss of species from all over the world, including Hawaiian and Brazilian birds, reptiles in Mexico and the Galapagos Islands, a plant from St. Helena in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, and even the first known mammal claimed by anthropogenic climate change, an Australian species of rat called the Bramble Cay melomys. Lathan is a superb writer, in a class with Merlyn Sheldrake, Robert McFarlane, and Bruce Chatwin. “Translucent and cast in deep yellow and red hues, from mustard to plum to maroon, they formed striking shapes,” he writes of sciaphilum. “There was something about these shells, in their colours and their lines, that gave them the appearance of being variations on a single idea—as though they were tiny glass sculptures blown by the same artist.” Latham is also an intrepid reporter and meticulous researcher. Each chapter provides a wealth of knowledge about these species’ natural history, human discovery, and probable causes of disappearance. We may be able to learn how to protect at least some heading toward the same fate.

A haunting elegy for the sixth extinction, with a note of hope.