Leptoxis carinata explained

Leptoxis carinata, common name the crested mudalia, is a species of freshwater snail with an operculum, an aquatic gastropod mollusc in the family Pleuroceridae.

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.^[1]

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.^[2]

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, in this environment.^[3]

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.

Notes and References

1. Burch, (1982) Freshwater Snails (Mollusca: Gastropoda) of North America. United States Environmental Protection Agency, Cincinnati, Ohio
2. David W. Aldridge. 1982. Reproductive Tactics in Relation to Life-Cycle Bioenergetics in Three Natural populations of the Freshwater Snail, Leptoxis Carinata. Ecology: Vol. 63, No. 1, pp. 196–208.
3. Hamilton, S. 1980. Reproduction or shell armor – a trade off in freshwater gastropods. The Bulletin of the American Malacological Union, Inc. 46:71.