Rediscovery of Leptoxis compacta (Anthony, 1854) (Gastropoda: Cerithioidea: Pleuroceridae).

Abstract

The Mobile River Basin is a hotspot of molluscan endemism, but anthropogenic activities have caused at least 47 molluscan extinctions, 37 of which were gastropods, in the last century. Nine of these suspected extinctions were in the freshwater gastropod genus Leptoxis (Cerithioidea: Pleuroceridae). Leptoxis compacta, a Cahaba River endemic, has not been collected for >70 years and was formally declared extinct in 2000. Such gastropod extinctions underscore the imperilment of freshwater resources and the current biodiversity crisis in the Mobile River Basin. During a May 2011 gastropod survey of the Cahaba River in central Alabama, USA, L. compacta was rediscovered. The identification of snails collected was confirmed through conchological comparisons to the L. compacta lectotype, museum records, and radulae morphology of historically collected L. compacta. Through observations of L. compacta in captivity, we document for the first time that the species lays eggs in short, single lines. Leptoxis compacta is restricted to a single location in the Cahaba River, and is highly susceptible to a single catastrophic extinction event. As such, the species deserves immediate conservation attention. Artificial propagation and reintroduction of L. compacta into its native range may be a viable recovery strategy to prevent extinction from a single perturbation event.