The miniature shell of a tiny land snail has been found in limestone rocks in southern China.

Called Angustopila dominikae, its shell measures just 0.86 millimetres and is so small that 10 of the gastropods would sit comfortably in the eye of large sewing needle.

It is one of seven 'microsnail' species discovered in Guangxi province, southern China.

The miniature shell of a tiny land snail has been found in limestone rocks in southern China. Called Angustopila dominikae, its shell (pictured) measures just 0.86 millmetres and is so small that 10 of the gastrpods would sit comfortably in the eye of large sewing needle. It is named after author Dr Barna Pall-Gergely's wife Dominika

Researchers from Shinshu University in Japan, who made the discovery, said A. dominikae is the world's smallest known land snail.

They named it after lead author Dr Barna Pall-Gergely's wife Dominika.

The scientists wrote in the journal ZooKeys: 'Extremes in body size of organisms not only attract attention from the public, but also incite interest regarding their adaptation to their environment.

THE LARGEST SNAIL IN THE WORLD At the opposite end of the scale to the Angustopila dominikae is the giant African snail. There are a number of species, known as Achatina fulica, the giant Ghana tiger snail (Achatina achatina), and margies (Archachatina marginata). Each are large, terrestrial snails that measure up to 8 inches long (20 cm) and 4 inches in diameter. Advertisement

'Investigating tiny-shelled land snails is important for assessing biodiversity and natural history as well as for establishing the foundation for studying the evolution of dwarfism in invertebrate animals.

'We hope that these results provide the taxonomic groundwork for future studies concerning the evolution of dwarfism in invertebrates.'

The single empty shell of the new species was found in a soil sample at the base of cliffs at the southern edge of Jiaole Cun in Bama Xian.

It likely lives on limestone walls as do other similar species.

Its shell is 0.86mm high and 0.8mm wide. The operculum, or seal, that sits across the opening of the shell known as the aperture is 0.3mm high and 0.37mm wide.

It was one of seven 'microsnail' species discovered in soil samples at the base of cliffs at the southern edge of Jiaole Cun in Bama Xian in the province of Guangxi province, southern China (marked)

Researchers from Shinshu University in Japan, who made the discovery, said A. dominikae is the world's smallest known land snail. Its shell (pictured) is 0.86mm high and 0.8mm wide. The operculum, or seal, that sits across the opening of the shell known as the aperture is 0.3mm high and 0.37mm wide

This chart compares the sizes of five Angustopila species. From left to right is A. fabella, A. szekeresi, A. elevata, A. subelevata and the A. dominikae. The dark grey silhouettes represent the smallest shells found in that species while light grey shows the largest. The numbers above the shells are how many were found

Researchers describe the shell as being minute, light grey with 4.75 whorls.

The next smallest species found was the Angustopila subelevata, with a shell height of 0.87mm.

Before this discovery, the smallest member of the genus was the Angustopila elevata with a shell height 0.99mm.

The experts said it is unlikely land snails will be smaller than those discovered in China because the organs and cells would not be able to function in such minute proportions.

Although it is the smallest known land snail, it is only 0.01mm smaller than another species found on the site, called Angustopila subelevata.

It is almost twice the size of the smallest water snail called Ammonicera minortalis, which ranges in length from 0.32mm to 0.46mm and is found in Texas.