Paralaoma turbotti is a species of land snail in the family Punctidae. The species was first described by Baden Powell in 1948, and is endemic to Manawatāwhi / Three Kings Islands in New Zealand.
The species was identified by Powell in 1948, based on a shell collected from Manawatāwhi / Great Island in 1945 by Graham Turbott, who discovered the shell on the underside of decaying wood in leaf mold, in an area of kanuka scrub.[1] Powell named the species after Turbott.
In 1999, specimens that had previously been identified as P. turbotti by Frank Climo in 1973 were described two new species, Paralaoma manawatawhia and Paralaoma raki. These species share a habitat and have overlapping distributions, suggesting that Quaternary sea level changes may have fragmented populations of Paralaoma, leading to speciation.
Powell's original text (the type description) reads as follows:
The shell of the species is morphologically very similar to Paralaoma buddlei, however is much smaller compared to P. buddlei. They can be distinguished from P. manawatawhia due to the shells of this species being brown, bigger and having heavier ribbing.
The species is endemic to New Zealand, found on islands of the Manawatāwhi / Three Kings Islands group: Manawatāwhi / Great Island and Moekawa / South West Island. The snail lives primarily in broaflead forest and kanuka leaf litter.