Over a hundred years later, in 1946, the American biologist Henry Augustus Pilsbry redescribed the species using a specimen from Stock Island, Florida.

The validity of these two taxa is still being discussed, but some experts argue that considering them as independent units may be important for management purposes.

The Stock Island tree snail has a large conical shell (45–55  mm in length) with variable thickness, generally lighter and more translucent than other species of Orthalicus.

It is colored white to buff, with weakly developed spiral bands and several flame-like, purple-brown axial stripes.

That specimen was lost, and the species was later redescribed by Henry Augustus Pilsbry in 1946[5] using a snail collected from Stock Island.

[5][6][7] However, Emmel and Perry (2004)[8] recommended that if the two Orthalicus reses subspecies prove to be as genetically invariant as was observed in their study, the groups should be considered a single taxon or taxonomic unit.

[4] Emmel and Perry (2004) however asserted that the taxa "should continue to be considered as independent units for management purposes".

[5] Snails that were sealed in place on floating tropical trees may have been cast ashore on the Florida peninsula by high winds and hurricanes.

[3] The distribution has since been artificially extended by collectors, who have introduced them to Key Largo and the southernmost parts of mainland Florida.

Dry periods (December through April) are spent in aestivation, during which time the snail forms a tight sealed barrier between the aperture and a tree trunk or branch.

Snails secrete this mucus seal (an epiphragm) that cements their shell to a tree in order to protect them from desiccation during the dry period.

Orthalicus reses survives best in hammocks with smooth-barked native trees that support relatively large amounts of lichens and algae.

In the Florida Keys, Orthalicus is limited to the higher portions of the islands that support hammock forests (minimum elevations of 5 to 11 feet).

[3] Lower Keys hammocks consist of thick forests of tropical trees and shrubs which grow in limestone, marl, and calcareous sand soils.

Canopy trees include black ironwood (Krugiodendron ferreum), gumbo limbo (Bursera simaruba), Jamaican dogwood (Piscidia piscipula), mahogany (Swietenia mahagoni), pigeon plum (Coccoloba diversifolia), poisonwood (Metopium toxiferum), and strangler fig (Ficus aurea).

Hammock understory contains torchwood (Amyris elemifera), milkbark (Drypetes diversifolia), wild coffee (Psychotria nervosa), marlberry (Ardisia escallonioides), stoppers (Eugenia sp.

Essential factors affecting food availability are the light intensity and moisture content of the hammock habitat.

[3] No data are available on minimal hammock size needed to support a viable population of tree snails.

Likely food items include a variety of fungi, algae, and lichens found on many of the native hammock trees.

Regrowth of the epiphytes is affected by the light intensity and moisture (canopy density and climate) of the hammock habitat.

[3] They mate and nest in late summer and early fall during the wettest part of the rainy season.

Additional threats include pesticides, hurricanes, vegetation trimming along utility corridors, over-utilization of the habitat areas, and non-native predators.

Moreover, significant threats in addition to habitat loss have emerged, and these are not adequately addressed in the recovery criteria.