Kanab ambersnail
| Kanab Ambersnail | |
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| A Kanab Ambersnail at Vaseys Paradise in Grand Canyon National Park. | |
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| Subspecies: | O. h. kanabensis
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| Trinomial name | |
| Oxyloma haydeni kanabensis | |
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The Kanab Ambersnail (Oxyloma haydeni kanabensis) is a critically endangered subspecies of snail, restricted to wetlands, springs, and seeps.[3] Only two natural habitats of the snail are known to exist: the first is Three Lakes, a meadow near Kanab, Utah, and the second is Vaseys Paradise, a spring along the Colorado River within Grand Canyon National Park.[3] In addition to its natural populations, the Kanab Ambersnail has been introduced to three new springs – all above the historic high water level – along the Colorado River. The family of land snails gets its common name, amber snail, from the snails' characteristic orange colored shell.[4]
The Kanab Ambersnail was proposed for emergency listing in 1991, and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has listed the Kanab Ambersnail as endangered since 1992. The Kanab Ambersnail is evaluated as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. In Utah, their habitat is threatened by commercial development by Brandt Child, a private landowner,[5] whereas the Grand Canyon population is threatened by discharges from the Glen Canyon Dam which can sweep snails and their habitat downstream. Their natural predators are passerines and deer mice.[6][7]
The Kanab Ambersnail is typically found along with monkeyflower, watercress, sedges and rushes. It feeds on plant tissue, fungi, algae, and bacteria, using its radula to scrape off food.[citation needed]
Population and habitat
Only two populations of the snail are known to exist,[4] specifically, Three Lakes near Kanab, Utah, and Vaseys Paradise, in Grand Canyon National Park.[8] There was formerly a third population present in Kanab, Utah, but it is believed to have become extirpated through the destruction of its habitat.[9]
In 1996, 16% of the Ambersnail's habitat at Vaseys Paradise was destroyed in a flood, and a more disastrous previous flood in 1994 had probably already threatened the snail's habitat.[8] The suitable area for habitat in Three Lakes is believed to extend to an area 1.3 km long, and 90 m wide, and genetic diversity seems to indicate that the area is more stable than Vaseys Paradise.
References
- ^ Template:IUCN2006
- ^ "Kanab Ambersnail". Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. Retrieved 2006-11-25.
- ^ a b Jeff Sorensen. "Kanab Ambersnail (Oxyloma haydeni kanabensis)". gf.state.az.us. Retrieved 2006-11-26.
- ^ a b "Mollusks". Grand Canyon National Park. Retrieved 2006-11-25.
- ^ Randall Fitzgerald, Mugged by the State: Outrageous Government Assaults on Ordinary People and their Property, Regnery Publishing, Inc. (2003) ISBN 0895261022
- ^ USFWS. 1995. Kanab ambersnail (Oxyloma haydeni kanabensis) recovery plan. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Denver, Colorado. 21 pp.[1]
- ^ Stevens, L.E., V.J. Meretsky, D.M. Kubly, J.C. Nagy, C. Nelson, J.R. Petterson, F.R. Protiva, and J.A. Sorensen. 1997b. The impacts of an experimental flood from Glen Canyon Dam on the endangered Kanab ambersnail at Vaseys Paradise, Grand Canyon, Arizona: Final Report. Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center, Flagstaff.[2]
- ^ a b Miller, Mark P.; Stevens, Larry P.; Busch, Joseph D.; Sorensen, Jeff A.; Keim, Paul.Amplified fragment length polymorphism and mitochondrial sequence data detect genetic differentiation in endangered southwestern U.S.A. ambersnails (Oxyloma epp.)
- ^ Clarke, A.H. 1991. Status survey of selected land and freshwater gastropods in Utah.
Further Reading
- "Kanab Ambersnail". Grand Canyon National Park. Retrieved 2006-11-24.