''Aylacostoma chloroticum'' is a

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 ...

freshwater snail Freshwater snails are gastropod mollusks which live in fresh water. There are many different families. They are found throughout the world in various habitats, ranging from ephemeral pools to the largest lakes, and from small seeps and springs ...

, aquatic

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 ...

mollusc 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 esti ...

in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Thiaridae Thiaridae, common name thiarids or trumpet snails, is a family of tropical freshwater snails with an operculum, aquatic gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Cerithioidea. MolluscaBase eds. (2021). MolluscaBase. Thiaridae Gill, 1871 (1823). A ...

. This species is found in

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

and

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

. It was feared that the species had become

extinct in the wild A species that is extinct in the wild (EW) is one that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as known only by living members kept in captivity or as a naturalized population outside its historic range due ...

as a consequence of the building of the

Yacyretá Dam The Yacyretá Dam or Jasyretâ-Apipé Hydroelectric Power Station (from Guaraní ''jasy retã'', "land of the moon") is a dam and hydroelectric power plant built over the waterfalls of Jasyretâ-Apipé in the Paraná River, between the Paraguay ...

on the

Paraná River The Paraná River ( es, Río Paraná, links=no , pt, Rio Paraná, gn, Ysyry Parana) is a river in south-central South America, running through Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina for some ."Parana River". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Br ...

, but a single small wild population remains.Vogler, Beltramino, Strong & Rumi (2015). A phylogeographical perspective on the ex situ conservation of Aylacostoma (Thiaridae, Gastropoda) from the High Paraná River (Argentina–Paraguay). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 174(3): 487-499. A captive "safety" population is jointly managed by the

National University of Misiones The National University of Misiones (in Spanish: ''Universidad Nacional de Misiones'', ''UNaM'') is a public university in Argentina. It has a publishing house and a radio station, ''LRH301 FM Universidad Nacional de Misiones'', that streams in ...

and

Bernardino Rivadavia Natural Sciences Museum The Bernardino Rivadavia Natural Sciences Argentine Museum ( es, Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales Bernardino Rivadavia) is a public museum located in the Caballito section of Buenos Aires, Argentina. History and overview The museum owes it ...

.Vogler (2013). The Radula of the Extinct Freshwater Snail Aylacostoma stigmaticum (Caenofastropoda: Thiaridae) from Argentina and Paraguay. Malacologia 56 (1-2): 329-332. Its relatives '' A. brunneum'', '' A. guaraniticum'' and '' A. stigmaticum'' from the same region had a similar fate, but the first only survives in captivity (extinct in the wild) and the last two are entirely extinct.

References

Thiaridae Gastropods described in 1953 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Thiaridae-stub