00:00I helped rediscover a species which was thought to be going extinct.
00:07Bruno Bell knows a lot about snails.
00:10There are 11 families of land snail in Tasmania.
00:14So I can give you an example, they're called dot snails.
00:18So there are two there?
00:19Two there, yeah, they're adults.
00:21For twin brother Otto, it's weevils.
00:24They were almost like transformers, their legs tucked in and their snout tucked in.
00:29These are all collected on the south coast track.
00:31I'm having two species named after me, of this tiny little leaf litter inhabiting weevil.
00:42The 21-year-old Tasmanians have turned a childhood passion for nature into what could become a promising career.
00:49Oh, is that a weevil?
00:51No.
00:53Oh, it is!
00:54What is it?
00:55Oh, it's actually a really interesting one.
00:58What is it?
00:59It looks like tiger ears.
01:00Oh, damn!
01:02Two of Tasmania's only experts on their preferred invertebrates,
01:06Otto and Bruno frequently take field trips together.
01:10I do a lot of photography and I generally do the collecting.
01:14Collections that end up in the mini-museums that are their bedrooms.
01:19This one was found in Marawa.
01:22It's a new species for today.
01:24Marawa?
01:25Marawa.
01:26Oh, so you really travel?
01:27Yeah, we go all over.
01:28He's not kidding.
01:30From the bush and beaches of Tasmania to the natural history museums of mainland Australia and even Europe,
01:37Otto and Bruno are well-versed in species of the world.
01:44Simon Grove met the twins as teenagers,
01:47when their mum asked if they could volunteer at the Tasmanian Museum's invertebrates collection.
01:53They can spot the tiniest weevil or a snail the size of a pinhead.
01:57Not only spot it, but then look at it without even so much as a hand lens
02:01and be able to say, oh, look at the micro-sculpture on the protoconch of that snail.
02:08He says it's not just their skills that have impacted him.
02:11They teach me all sorts of things, both about the zoological subjects and about human nature.
02:18And they're not only recognised by local experts.
02:21This is one of four letters Bruno's received from David Attenborough.
02:26I helped rediscover a species which was thought to be going extinct,
02:30and to me it was very significant, and so I sent photos and he responded.
02:36Weevil species are set to be named after the young researchers,
02:40Bruno Bellii and Otto Bellii, the tipped titles.
02:45I would have thought early after about 10 years or something I'd get something like that,
02:49but yeah, it's an honour really.
02:55The pair hope to identify the hundreds of weevil and snail species that remain undescribed in Tasmania,
03:02which could have impacts in Australian agriculture.
03:05Some of them are major pests, so if we learn more about them we can protect crops.
03:11And conservation.
03:12We have some really unique species here in Tasmania, which if they're gone, they're gone.
03:19Acorn is more a source of comfort than curiosity for the twins.
03:24The fox terrier is named after one of their first ever collections.
03:28But it's creatures far, far smaller that will always bond the Bells.
03:34We'll always have that shared interest and we'll help each other with research,
03:40but I think we'll go on separate paths.
03:42One day, perhaps a long way down the track.
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