''Juga plicifera'', common name pleated juga,"''Juga plicifera'' (I. Lea, 1838)". NatureServe Explorer, accessed 26 February 2013. and Graceful keeled horn snail(2013). "''Juga plicifera''". In: ''Oregon Estuarine Invertebrates'' (ed. 2) (2013). ''Juga plicifera'

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 ...

of small

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 ...

with an ovate and corneous operculum, ranging in size from 16mm to 35mm long. The snail is dextrally coiled with about 15 whorls and 10 to 12 axial plicae on each whorl. It is an 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 ...

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

Semisulcospiridae Semisulcospiridae, common name semisulcospirids, is a family of freshwater snails, aquatic gilled gastropod mollusks with an operculum, in the superfamily Cerithioidea. MolluscaBase eds. (2021). MolluscaBase. Semisulcospiridae J. P. E. Morri ...

Distribution

''Juga plicifera'' is distributed throughout northwestern

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

and

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

, USA, and is found in lakes, rivers, creeks, and tributaries.Strong and Whelan (2019). "Assessing the diversity of western North American Juga (Semisulcospiridae, Gastropoda)". ''Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution'', 136. (2019): 87–103. oi: 10.1016/j.ympev.2019.04.009

Habitat

''Juga plicifera'' can be found clinging to rocks or substrate in slow flowing streams, as well as in the muddy-sand bottoms of small and medium lakes with a preference for shaded sites. It has been shown to like cool, clear water, though it has been noted to have a greater tolerance to siltation and slack water than some other members of the Juga genus (''

Juga newberryi ''Juga'' is a genus of freshwater snails with a gill and an operculum, aquatic gastropod mollusks in the family Semisulcospiridae. These snails are native to the rivers of the northwestern United States and adjacent British Columbia. Several ...

'').Foltz Jordan and Janicki (n.d.)
"A freshwater snail"
The Xerces Society.

Ecology

''Juga plicifera'' serves as an intermediate host for ''

Nanophyetus salmincola ''Nanophyetus salmincola'' is a food-borne intestinal trematode parasite prevalent on the Pacific Northwest coast. The species may be the most common trematode endemic to the United States. The life cycle of the ''N. salmincola'' requires thr ...

''.

References

Semisulcospiridae {{Semisulcospiridae-stub