Cahaba pebblesnail

Last updated

Cahaba pebblesnail
Clappia cahabensis shell.png
Black and white photo of apertural view of the shell of Clappia cahabensis
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Order: Neotaenioglossa
Family: Lithoglyphidae
Genus: Clappia
Species:
†C. cahabensis
Binomial name
†Clappia cahabensis
Clench, 1965 [2]

The Cahaba pebblesnail, scientific name Clappia cahabensis, was a species of very small freshwater snail, aquatic gastropod mollusks in the family Lithoglyphidae. [3]

Contents

This species is named after the Cahaba River. This species is endemic to the United States. [1]

This species was listed as extinct in the 2006 and 2010 IUCN Red List. [1] It was thought to be extinct because of water pollution coming from modern surface mining of coal in the USA. [3]

Until recently the Cahaba pebblesnail was believed to be extinct, one of 34 snail species fallen victim to dams built along the Coosa River between 1917 and 1967. In 2004 however, biologists discovered the snail living less than fifty miles to the west, in Alabama's Cahaba River, which parallels the Coosa. [4]

Bibb County, Alabama (marked red) where the species is found in the Cahaba River. Map of Alabama highlighting Bibb County.svg
Bibb County, Alabama (marked red) where the species is found in the Cahaba River.

Description

Clappia cahabensis has been described by American malacologist William J. Clench in 1965. [2] Clench's type description reads as follows:

Clappia cahabensis, new species. Fig. 2.

Shell small, reaching 3 mm. in length, umbilicate, and smooth. Color a yellowish brown, whorls 3.5, strongly convex. Suture indented. Spire extended. Aperture subcircular, slightly flaring, holostomatous and attached to the body whorl only at its upper part. Umbilicus narrow and deep. No sculpture. Periostracum thin. Operculum paucispiral with the nucleus nearly centered. Animal white.

length width

3.5 mm. 2.7 mm. Holotype

3 2.4 Paratype

Types. Holotype, Museum of Comparative Zoology no. 251167, from the Cahaba River, 1 mile north of Centreville, Bibb Co., Alabama, Leslie Hubricht collector, Nov. 18, 1964.

Remarks. This is the second known species in the genus Clappia . The type species, C. clappi Walker is known from the Coosa River at Duncan's Ripple, The Bar, and Higgin's Ferry, all in Chilton County; and Butting Ram Shoals in Coosa County, Alabama. The Cahaba River at Centreville is 160 river miles from the southmost Coosa locality.

This species differs from C. clappi by being proportionately more attenuate, having a smaller umbilicus and a less flaring margin of the aperture. Walker stated that the animal was black in C. clappi ( Nautilus 22: 90).

The soft anatomy of C. cahabensis is white.

Ecology

Its natural habitat is rivers. [1] Clappia cahabensis requires rapid flowing sections of river shoals. [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cahaba River</span> River in Alabama, United States

The Cahaba River is the longest substantially free-flowing river in Alabama and is among the most scenic and biologically diverse rivers in the United States. It is a major tributary of the Alabama River and part of the larger Mobile River basin. With headwaters near Birmingham, the Cahaba flows southwest, then at Heiberger turns southeast and joins the Alabama River at the ghost town and former Alabama capital of Cahaba in Dallas County. Entirely within central Alabama, the Cahaba River is 194 miles (312 km) long and drains an area of 1,870 square miles (4,800 km2). The name Cahaba is derived from the Choctaw words oka meaning "water" and aba meaning "above"

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shoal sprite</span> Species of gastropod

The shoal sprite was a species of minute, air-breathing, freshwater snail, an aquatic pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Planorbidae, the ram's horn snails. This species was endemic to Alabama, but it is now extinct.

<i>Clappia</i> (gastropod) Genus of molluscs

Clappia is a genus of small freshwater snails that have an operculum, aquatic gastropod mollusks in the family Lithoglyphidae.

<i>Clappia umbilicata</i> Species of gastropod

Clappia umbilicata, the umbilicate pebblesnail, was a species of small freshwater snail that had an operculum, an aquatic gastropod mollusk in the family Lithoglyphidae. This species is now extinct.

The lacy elimia, also known as the lacey elimia, scientific name Elimia crenatella, is a species of freshwater snail with a gill and an operculum, an aquatic gastropod mollusk in the family Pleuroceridae.

<i>Leptoxis ampla</i> Species of gastropod

Leptoxis ampla, common name the round rocksnail, is a species of freshwater snail with a gill and an operculum, an aquatic gastropod mollusc in the family Pleuroceridae.

<i>Leptoxis compacta</i> Species of gastropod

Leptoxis compacta, the oblong rocksnail, is a species of freshwater snail with an operculum, an aquatic gastropod mollusk in the family Pleuroceridae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Painted rocksnail</span> Species of gastropod

The painted rocksnail is a species of freshwater snail with a gill and an operculum, an aquatic gastropod mollusc in the family Pleuroceridae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flat pebblesnail</span> Species of gastropod

The flat pebblesnail is a species of freshwater snail, an aquatic gastropod mollusk in the family Lithoglyphidae.

<i>Lioplax cyclostomatiformis</i> Species of gastropod

Lioplax cyclostomatiformis, the cylindrical lioplax, is a species of freshwater snail with gills and an operculum, an aquatic gastropod mollusk in the family Viviparidae.

<i>Neoplanorbis tantillus</i> Species of gastropod

Neoplanorbis tantillus is a species of very small air-breathing freshwater snail, an aquatic gastropod mollusk in the family Planorbidae, the ram's horn snails. This species is endemic to the United States. In 2012, it has been declared extinct by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

<i>Rhodacmea filosa</i> Species of gastropod

Rhodacmea filosa, the wicker ancylid, is a species of small, air-breathing, freshwater snail or limpet, a pulmonate gastropod in the family Planorbidae.

The Coosa pebblesnail, scientific name Somatogyrus coosaensis, is a species of small freshwater snails with a gill and an operculum, aquatic gastropod mollusks in the family Lithoglyphidae. This species is endemic to Alabama in the United States. Its natural habitat is the Coosa River. Although the IUCN officially categorises the species as Critically Endangered, it also considers it as Possibly extinct, as it has not been recorded in several dozen years. This latter classification is also supported by The Nature Conservancy.

The hidden pebblesnail, scientific name Somatogyrus decipiens, is a species of minute freshwater snails with an operculum, aquatic gastropod molluscs or micromolluscs in the family Lithoglyphidae.

The Moon pebblesnail, scientific name Somatogyrus obtusus, is a species of very small freshwater snail that has an operculum, an aquatic gastropod mollusc in the family Lithoglyphidae.

<i>Gillia altilis</i> Species of gastropod

Gillia altilis, common name the Buffalo pebblesnail, is a species of freshwater snail, an aquatic gastropod mollusk with an operculum in the family Lithoglyphidae.

Felipponea elongata is a species of large freshwater snail with an operculum, an aquatic gastropod mollusk in the family Ampullariidae, the apple snail family.

The Cherokee pebblesnail is a species of very small freshwater snail with an operculum. It is an aquatic gastropod mollusc in the family Lithoglyphidae.

References

This article incorporates public domain text from the reference [2]

  1. 1 2 3 4 Mollusc Specialist Group (2000). "Clappia cahabensis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2000: e.T4955A11102363. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2000.RLTS.T4955A11102363.en . Retrieved 16 November 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 Clench W. J. (1965). "A new species of Clappia from Alabama". The Nautilus 79(1): 33-34. Figure 2.
  3. 1 2 3 Thompson F. G. (1984). "North American freshwater snail genera of the hydrobiid subfamily Lithoglyphinae". Malacologia 25(1): 109-141.
  4. ↑ Nijhuis M. (August 2009). "River Of Riches: The Cahaba" Archived 2011-05-15 at the Wayback Machine . Smithsonian . accessed 24 July 2009.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.