''Anguispira picta'',

common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often contrast ...

s painted snake-coiled forest snail and painted tigersnail, is a rare

species 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 s ...

of air-breathing

land snail A land snail is any of the numerous species of snail that live on land, as opposed to the sea snails and freshwater snails. ''Land snail'' is the common name for terrestrial gastropod mollusks that have shells (those without shells are known as ...

, a terrestrial

pulmonate Pulmonata or pulmonates, is an informal group (previously an order, and before that a subclass) of snails and slugs characterized by the ability to breathe air, by virtue of having a pallial lung instead of a gill, or gills. The group includ ...

gastropod The gastropods (), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, from freshwater, and from land. T ...

mollusk Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is e ...

in the family

Discidae Discidae is a taxonomic family of small air-breathing land snails, terrestrial gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Punctoidea. Genera The family Discidae has no subfamilies. Genera within the family Discidae include: * ''Anguispira'' Morse, ...

, the disc snails. This species is native to

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

in the United States, where it is known only from Franklin County. It may possibly also occur just over the border in

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

.''Anguispira picta''.
The Nature Conservancy. It is a federally listed threatened species of the United States. This snail was first discovered in 1906. It was once treated as a subspecies of the more common '' Anguispira cumberlandiana''. It is now a species in its own right. The snail is about 2 centimeters wide and 1 high. Its shape is a depressed dome. The shell has six whorls which are whitish with brownish blotches. The juvenile has a translucent and brightly colored shell.USFWS
Painted snake coiled forest snail Recovery Plan.
(October 1982). This snail was long thought to be endemic to one cove on the edge of the

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 "Alle ...

, near the town of Sherwood, Tennessee. The cove is heavily forested and studded with

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

outcrops, and it has a creek running through. The snail still occurs at this cove and it is abundant there. Recent surveys demonstrate that its distribution extends a few miles past the cove. Until recently, its entire distribution was located on privately owned land. A new land grant to the Sherwood Forest, part of South Cumberland State Park, in 2018 includes the range of one-third of the snails, now a protected area.USFWS
Painted snake coiled forest snail Five-year Review.
(January 2008). Threats to the species include residential development, which can alter the habitat indirectly, such as by adding polluted

surface runoff Surface runoff (also known as overland flow) is the flow of water occurring on the ground surface when excess rainwater, stormwater, meltwater, or other sources, can no longer sufficiently rapidly infiltrate in the soil. This can occur when th ...

to the waterways. There is active limestone quarrying in the area, which can destroy habitat and cause

habitat fragmentation Habitat fragmentation describes the emergence of discontinuities (fragmentation) in an organism's preferred environment (habitat), causing population fragmentation and ecosystem decay. Causes of habitat fragmentation include geological processes ...

Logging Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks or skeleton cars. Logging is the beginning of a supply chain ...

also removes forest cover; the snail can apparently tolerate an amount of

deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated d ...

, but the long-term effects are not yet known.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q309143 Discidae Natural history of Tennessee Franklin County, Tennessee Gastropods described in 1920 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot ESA threatened species