[2] The current location occupied by this snail is on private property,[2] managed by the Maui Land & Pineapple Company and as part of the Puʻu Kukui Watershed Preserve.

[citation needed] Historically, it was distributed from the West Maui Mountains to the slopes of Haleakalā volcano.

[2] In 1994, private natural resource personnel located a small population of Newcomb's tree snails while monitoring transects for alien species in the mountains of west Maui in the Puu Kukui Reserve.

[2] It reaches an adult length of approximately 0.8 inches (20 mm) and its shell is mottled on shades of brown that blend with the bark of its host plants.

[2] Adults require several years to reach sexual maturity; reproductive rates are low; the young emerge live from the parent; and dispersal is very limited, with most individuals remaining in the tree or bush on which they were born.

[2] All of these traits make these snails very sensitive to any event that could lead to a reduction or loss of reproductive individuals.

Fish and Wildlife Service funded additional surveys by Dr. Hadfield and an expanded crew to search the original 6.18 acres (2.51 hectares) site.

[2] Hadfield (2007)[3] reported finding many shells of Oxychilus alliarius within the habitat of the remaining Newcomb's tree snails.

In 1995, 5 individuals were collected for captive propagation in the Endangered Snail Lab located at the University of Hawaii, Manoa, campus.

Although Newcomb's tree snails were reproducing in captivity, newborn mortality was high and the population experienced a rapid decline with the final death occurring on August 30, 2005.