Laevapex fuscus

Laevapex fuscus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
(unranked): clade Heterobranchia
clade Euthyneura
clade Panpulmonata
clade Hygrophila
Superfamily: Planorboidea
Family: Planorbidae
Subfamily: Planorbinae
Tribe: Ancylini
Genus: Laevapex
Species: L. fuscus
Binomial name
Laevapex fuscus
(C.B. Adams, 1841)

Laevapex fuscus, the dusky ancylid, is a species of small, freshwater, air-breathing limpet, an aquatic pulmonate gastropod mollusc or micromollusc in the family Planorbidae, the ram's horn snails and their allies.[2][3]

Geographic distribution

L. fuscus is found throughout North America east of the Great Plains, except for mountainous areas. It has been recorded in Canada, the United States, Jamaica and Puerto Rico.[1][4][5]

Description

L. fuscus was originally described as Ancylus fuscus in 1841 by Charles Baker Adams:[6]

"Shell thin, transparent without the epidermis, not much elevated, elliptical, moderately curved at the sides; epidermis brown, visible through the shell, giving it the appearance of having the same color, thick, rough, slightly extending beyond the margin of the shell; apex obtuse, moderately prominent, scarcely behind the middle, inclining to the right, so as to have only two fifths of the width on that side.
Length, .31 inches (7.9 mm), width, .22 in (5.6 mm); height, .05 in (1.3 mm)."

Habitat and ecology

L. fuscus generally occurs in lacustrine habitats,[7] preferring calmer waters than other ancylid genera.[4]

Simple annual (univoltine) and two-generation per year (bivoltine) life cycles have been reported in New York populations of L. fuscus.[8] The bioenergetic data collected for the species suggest that its reproductive effort is in line with expectation from adult weight, and hence that its life history strategy is undifferentiated.[9] The species is functionally protandric, despite being one of the more specialised of higher limnic pulmonate snails.[10]

L. fuscus has been observed attached to the wings or hemelytra of the water bug species Belostoma flumineum (Hemiptera: Belostomatidae). This observation suggests that belostomatids might serve as a mode of transport and a passive dispersal agent for L. fuscus and other ancylid species.[11]

References

  1. 1 2 Cordeiro, J. & Perez, K. (2012). "Laevapex fuscus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.1. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  2. ↑ Roskov Y.; Kunze T.; Orrell T.; Abucay L.; Paglinawan L.; Culham A.; Bailly N.; Kirk P.; Bourgoin T.; Baillargeon G.; Decock W.; De Wever A.; Didžiulis V. (eds.). "Laevapex fuscus C.B. Adams, 1841". Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life, 2014 Annual Checklist. Species 2000: Naturalis, Leiden, the Netherlands. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  3. ↑ "Laevapex fuscus (C. B. Adams, 1841)". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  4. 1 2 Dillon, R. T., Jr.; Watson, B.T.; Stewart, T. W. & Reeves, W. K. (2006). "Laevapex fuscus (C. B. Adams 1841)". The freshwater gastropods of North America. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  5. ↑ "Laevapex fuscus - (C.B. Adams, 1841)". NatureServe. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  6. ↑ Adams, C. B. (1841). "Descriptions of thirteen new species of New England shells". Boston Journal of Natural History. 3 (3): 318–332. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  7. ↑ Basch, Paul F. (1959). "The Anatomy of Laevapex fuscus, A Freshwater Limpet (Gastropoda: Pulmonata)" (PDF). Miscellaneous publishings, Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan. 108: 1–60. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  8. ↑ McMahon, R. F. (1975). "Growth, reproduction and bioenergetic variation in three natural populations of a freshwater limpet Laevapex fuscus (C. B. Adams)". Proceedings of the Malacological Society of London. 41: 331–351. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  9. ↑ Dillon, R. T. (2000). The ecology of freshwater molluscs (PDF). Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  10. ↑ Russell-Hunter, W. D. & McMahon, R. F. (1976). "Evidence for functional protandry in a fresh-water basommatophoran limpet, Laevapex fuscus". Transactions of the American Microscopical Society. 95 (2): 174–182. JSTOR 3225061.
  11. ↑ Walther, A. C. (2008). "Attachment of the freshwater limpet Laevapex fuscus to the hemelytra of the water bug Belostoma flumineum". A systematic study of North American freshwater limpets (Gastropoda: Hygrophila: Ancylidae) (PDF) (Ph. D.). The University of Michigan. Retrieved 7 July 2014.

Further reading

See also

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