Reappearance of Rhodacmea filosa, a snail presumed extinct for more than 60 years
By Ma. Maureen Pascual on Jun 4, 2011 in Amazing, Animals, Environment, United States, Universities • No comments |
Rhodacmea filosa
Image Credit: sciencedaily.com
In a tributary of the heavily dammed Coosa River in Alabama’s Mobile River Basin, a freshwater limpet or snail known as Rhodacmea filosa, said to be last seen more than 60 years ago and presumed extinct, has been rediscovered, as reported by the Science Daily, June 2, 2011.
Report mentioned that the major extinction took place in North America in the first half of the 20th century, after the watershed was dammed, 47 species of mollusk disappeared. Accordingly, when rivers are dammed, shoals and riffles are replaced with reservoirs, and the swiftly moving water the limpets require is stilled.
It was noted that the rediscovery of Rhodacmea filosa, snails with shells shaped like caps rather than coils, was formally reported and documented in the PLoS ONE, an online open-access journal last May 31 by the researchers from the University of Michigan, the Alabama Aquatic Biodiversity Center (AABC) and the Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commission.
Report confirms that the authors of the paper are Diarmaid Ó Foighil, professor of ecology and evolutionary and a curator at the U-M Museum of Zoology, professor emeritus John Burch, graduate student Jingchun Li, collection coordinator Taehwan Lee, AABC director Paul Johnson and Ryan Evans of the Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commission.
As report further attest, the State Wildlife Grant Program, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Science Foundation provided the funding.
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