''Leptoxis carinata'',
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 ...
the crested mudalia, 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
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
operculum, 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
Pleuroceridae
Pleuroceridae, common name pleurocerids, is a family of small to medium-sized freshwater snails, aquatic gilled gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Cerithioidea.These snails have an operculum and typically a robust high-spired shell.
Reprodu ...
.
Shell description
''Leptoxis carinata'' has a strong globose shell, with highly variable sculpture. In various creeks and rivers throughout its range, populations may be found with spiral cords, a single carina or keel, variously developed, or lacking sculpture.
Distribution
This species occurs in unpolluted large creeks and high-gradient rivers in the Atlantic drainages of the United States, from New York to North Carolina.
Ecology
Habitat
''Leptoxis carinata'' is found in high-gradient streams, generally in the faster flowing riffles and drops, where it clings firmly to large stones and bedrock exposures.
Life cycle
''Leptoxis carinata'' is
semelparous biennial.
This species, unlike softer shelled
physid snails, grows very slowly, and has the lowest
intrinsic rate of increase (this means that populations grow very slowly), along with ''
Elimia virginica
''Elimia virginica'', common names the Piedmont elimia or Virginia river snail, is a species of freshwater snail with an operculum, an aquatic gastropod mollusc in the family Pleuroceridae.
Distribution Indigenous distribution
''Elimia vir ...
'', in this environment.
[Hamilton, S. 1980. ''Reproduction or shell armor – a trade off in freshwater gastropods''. The Bulletin of the American Malacological Union, Inc. 46:71.]
References
Further reading
* Stewart T. W. & Garcia J. E. (2002). "Environmental Factors Causing Local Variation in Density and Biomass of the Snail ''Leptoxis carinata'', in Fishpond Creek, Virginia". ''American Midland Naturalist'' 148(1) 172–180
JSTOR
Pleuroceridae
Gastropods described in 1792
{{Pleuroceridae-stub