Today I bring you the incredible story of a small creature with a gigantic legacy. Its existence has been intertwined with the works of great painters, poets, and collectors, and has even captured the attention of royalty. In 2022, it also received significant recognition as the most beautiful snail in the world.

Its name originates from Greek culture; however, it chose the Caribbean as its habitat, on the other side of the world.

You might not believe it, but I am talking about a snail: one of nature's smallest creatures, yet endowed with a beauty capable of justifying every word you are reading and the countless days and nights I dedicated to creating this collection.

Each NFT in this collection was meticulously crafted by hand. As a result, the pieces created are completely unique: there are no two identical NFTs in the collection. Each one features a special and distinctive design that brings added value.

Axel Doyel Studio is pleased to present its first major Polymita Picta NFT collection, composed of two thousand pieces in the form of GIFs and photographs.

This collection is inspired by the Polymita picta snail, also known as the painted snail, whose shell exhibits an extraordinary variety of colors and hues.

In 2022, it was recognized as the most beautiful snail in the world after obtaining more than ten thousand votes in a competition organized by the LOEWE Centre for Translational Biodiversity Genomics in Germany and the Worldwide Society for Mollusc Research.

This snail lives exclusively in the eastern region of Cuba and reproduces during the rainy season through a complex mating ritual. Its existence is unjustly ephemeral, as it usually lives for only one to two years. Polymita picta is a land snail endemic to Cuba, renowned for the diversity of colors on its shell, which has captivated countless people since well before the 20th century.

These snails not only impressed nature enthusiasts, but also found a place within the works of painters and poets. Dutch painters Johannes Bosschaert and Balthasar van der Ast chose these snails as significant elements in their still lifes.

Likewise, Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, an enthusiast of malacology—the science that studies mollusks—, mentions these snails in the third poem of Lámpara en la tierra, belonging to his work Canto general. From that poem, I share this brief excerpt:

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“The man of the islands went about weaving bouquets and garlands of sulfur polymita...”

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Beautiful, isn't it? Undoubtedly, nature, science, and the arts are inseparable.

Cuba holds enormous significance for global biodiversity due to its unique geomorphological history, its high relative humidity, its high tropical temperatures—exceeding thirty degrees—, and the widespread presence of limestone across the island's geography.

These conditions create an ideal environment for the development of land snails. For this reason, they captured the interest of numerous European and Cuban naturalists starting in the 19th century and, later, American malacologists during the 20th century.

The most prized snails, as you may have guessed, belong to the genus Polymita, whose name has Greek origins and means “many stripes”.

It is incredible that such a tiny creature, with a maximum width of approximately three centimeters, is connected to different parts of the world and history, in a way similar to how the Internet connects us all.

One of the most striking aspects of this species, and what served as inspiration for the collection, is its color polymorphism, considered one of the most remarkable in the animal kingdom.

These snails also play an important role in eliminating fungi found on plants such as coffee and guava. This highlights the close connection that exists between human beings and nature.

As we approach the end of this narrative, let me tell you who scientifically described this species and why I mentioned at the beginning that its history was also linked to royalty.

The species Polymita picta was described in the 18th century by the Austrian mineralogist Ignaz von Born, who lived between 1742 and 1791.

At that time, the nobility used to dedicate part of their time to gathering extraordinary pieces of natural history. These collections were known as cabinets of curiosities.

Emperor Francis I was the first to create what would become one of Austria's principal private collections of natural history. This included minerals, fossils, snail shells, mussels, and corals.

After his death, the collection passed into the hands of the State. In 1776, his wife, Maria Theresa of Austria, entrusted Baron Ignaz von Born with the task of organizing and expanding it. Two years later, in 1778, von Born scientifically described the first Polymita picta.

As if the history of these snails were not intriguing enough, it was also surrounded by deception and falsehoods. The first specimens of this species added to certain collections were falsely recorded as originating from Italy, when in reality they came from Cuba.

This false information was used to jealously guard the exclusivity of the collections, even when it meant concealing the true origin of the pieces.