Wicker ancylid

The wicker ancylid (Rhodacmea filosa) is a species of small, air-breathing, freshwater snail or limpet, a pulmonate gastropod in the family Planorbidae.[3]

Wicker ancylid
A 100-year-old museum shell of the wicker ancylid from Tallaseehatchee Creek in Alabama
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Mollusca
Class:
Gastropoda
(unranked):
clade Heterobranchia
clade Euthyneura
clade Panpulmonata
clade Hygrophila
Superfamily:
Planorboidea
Family:
Planorbidae
Subfamily:
Rhodacmeinae
Genus:
Rhodacmea
Species:
R. filosa
Binomial name
Rhodacmea filosa
(Conrad, 1834)[2]
Synonyms[1]
  • Ancylus filosus Conrad, 1834
  • Rhodacme filosa (Conrad, 1834)

Rhodacmea filosa is the type species of the genus Rhodacmea.[3]

Distribution

This species is endemic to the United States and was thought to be extinct,[1] until its rediscovery in 2011.[3] It occurred in the Mobile River Basin rivers and their tributaries.[3] The type locality is the Black Warrior River, south of Blount Springs, Alabama.[2]

Over the past 20 years, extensive surveys that included hundreds of collecting sites in the drainages of the Coosa River, Cahaba River and Black Warrior River (its type locality) had failed to find Rhodacmea filosa.[3] However, it does still persist in a Choccolocco Creek, a Coosa River tributary. Morphometric and phylogenetic analyses confirm the taxonomic validity of this material.[3] Its survival in Choccolocco Creek is somewhat surprising, given the serious episodes of industrial pollution experienced by this watershed.[3]

Description

Rhodacmea filosa was originally discovered and described (under the name Ancylus filosus) by Timothy Abbott Conrad in 1834.[2] Conrad's type description reads as follows:[2]

ANCYLUS FILOSUS Shell regularly oval, rather elevated; with numerous radiating prominent lines; apex very prominent, inclined, eroded, not nearly central.

Rhodacmea filosa has an elevated patelliform shell with ribbing in the form of strong radiating lines running from the apex to the aperture.[3]

Rediscovered specimen
Rediscovered specimen

References

This article incorporate public domain text from the reference[2] and CC-BY-2.5 text from the reference[3]

  1. Cordeiro, J. (2012). "Rhodacmea filosa". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2012: e.T19670A2475285. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2012-1.RLTS.T19670A2475285.en.
  2. Conrad T. A. (1834). "New fresh-water shells of the United States, with coloured illustrations, and a monograph of the genus Anculotus of Say; also a synopsis of the American naiads". Judah Dobson, Philadelphia, 76 pp. page 57.
  3. Ó Foighil D., Li J., Lee T., Johnson P., Evans R. & Burch J. B. (2011). "Conservation Genetics of a Critically Endangered Limpet Genus and Rediscovery of an Extinct Species". PLoS ONE 6(5): e20496. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0020496.
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