Anguispira cumberlandiana

Last updated

Cumberland Tigersnail
Not evaluated (IUCN 2.3) [1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
(unranked):clade Heterobranchia

clade Euthyneura
clade Panpulmonata
clade Eupulmonata
clade Stylommatophora
informal group Sigmurethra

Superfamily: Punctoidea
Family: Discidae
Genus: Anguispira
Species:A. cumberlandiana
Binomial name
Anguispira cumberlandiana
(I. Lea, 1840) [2]

The Cumberland Tigersnail or the Cumberland Disc, scientific name Anguispira cumberlandiana, is a species of small, air-breathing land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Discidae.

In biology, a species ( ) is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. Other ways of defining species include their karyotype, DNA sequence, morphology, behaviour or ecological niche. In addition, paleontologists use the concept of the chronospecies since fossil reproduction cannot be examined. While these definitions may seem adequate, when looked at more closely they represent problematic species concepts. For example, the boundaries between closely related species become unclear with hybridisation, in a species complex of hundreds of similar microspecies, and in a ring species. Also, among organisms that reproduce only asexually, the concept of a reproductive species breaks down, and each clone is potentially a microspecies.

Land snail

A land snail is any of the numerous species of snail that live on land, as opposed to sea snails and freshwater snails. Land snail is the common name for terrestrial gastropod mollusks that have shells. However, it is not always easy to say which species are terrestrial, because some are more or less amphibious between land and fresh water, and others are relatively amphibious between land and salt water.

Terrestrial animal animals living on land

Terrestrial animals are animals that live predominantly or entirely on land, as compared with aquatic animals, which live predominantly or entirely in the water, or amphibians, which rely on a combination of aquatic and terrestrial habitats. Terrestrial invertebrates include ants, flies, crickets, grasshoppers and spiders.

This species is found along the Cumberland Plateau, United States.

Cumberland Plateau

The Cumberland Plateau is the southern part of the Appalachian Plateau in the Appalachian Mountains of the United States. It includes much of eastern Kentucky and Tennessee, and portions of northern Alabama and northwest Georgia. The terms "Allegheny Plateau" and the "Cumberland Plateau" both refer to the dissected plateau lands lying west of the main Appalachian Mountains. The terms stem from historical usage rather than geological difference, so there is no strict dividing line between the two. Two major rivers share the names of the plateaus, with the Allegheny River rising in the Allegheny Plateau and the Cumberland River rising in the Cumberland Plateau in Harlan County, Kentucky.

Original descriptions from the 1840s

Anguispira cumberlandiana was originally discovered and described under the name Carocolla Cumberlandiana by Isaac Lea in 1840. [2]

Isaac Lea American geologist and Philadelphia publisher (Carey & Lea)

Isaac Lea was an American conchologist, geologist, and publisher, who was born in Wilmington, Delaware.

Lea's original text (the type description) reads as follows and provided one sentence of physical description. He lists the location of specimens as in the Cumberland Mountains near Jasper, Tennessee:

Cumberland Mountains mountain range

The Cumberland Mountains are a mountain range in the southeastern section of the Appalachian Mountains. They are located in western Virginia, eastern edges of Kentucky, and eastern middle Tennessee, including the Crab Orchard Mountains. Their highest peak, with an elevation of 4,223 feet (1,287 m) above mean sea level, is High Knob, which is located near Norton, Virginia.

Jasper, Tennessee Town in Tennessee, United States

Jasper is a town in Marion County, Tennessee, United States. It is the county seat of Marion County. The population was 3,279 at the 2010 census. The town was formed in 1820 from lands acquired from Betsy Pack (1770–1851), daughter of Cherokee Chief John Lowery.

Later, in 1843, [3] Lea provided the same description, but with more background information about the body form of this species in relation to H. alternata (now known as Anguispira alternata ), particularly the lenticular form and carina of cumberlandiana.

<i>Anguispira alternata</i> species of mollusc

Anguispira alternata, common name the flamed disc or flamed tigersnail, is a species of air-breathing land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Discidae, the disk snails.

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References

This article incorporates public domain text from references. [2] [3]

  1. ↑ IUCN (2009). IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2009.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 5 January 2010.
  2. 1 2 3 Lea, I. (August - October 1840). Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society1(13): 284-289.
  3. 1 2 Lea, I. (1843). Transactions of the American Philosophical Society New Series 8: 163-250.
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