Endangered
Tumbling Creek cavesnail
Antrobia culveri
Tumbling Creek cavesnail is a snail in the family Cochliopidae (order Littorinimorpha) — Antrobia culveri, recorded as Endangered.
Appearance
The Tumbling Creek cavesnail is a small, white, blind, aquatic snail. The shell is small, conical, well-rounded and pale-yellow with about 3.5 whorls.
The dimensions of the type specimen are as follows: height 2.3 millimeters (mm) (0.09 inches). Diameter 2.0 mm (0.08 in); aperture height 1.2 mm (0.05 in); aperture diameter 1.1 mm (0.04 in).
Range and habitat
Tumbling Creek cavesnail is an endemic species, part of the wildlife of Missouri, United States. In addition it is an aquatic troglobite, and animals who live in this specialized kind of habitat are known as stygobites or stygofauna. Observations between March and August 2001 suggest that Tumbling Creek cavesnail is now restricted to 23 m of available stream habitat or approximately 5 percent of the 457 meters of accessible suitable habitat.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Diet
Although little is known regarding the biology of this cave snail, it is believed that the species feeds on aquatic microfauna (i.e., the microscopic, bacterial film or "biofilm" that does appear to be ingested by the cave snail).
In crisis
This is an endangered species. The number of cave snails has significantly decreased over the past few decades, from an estimated 15,118 in 1973, to the point where only one individual was found within the survey areas during January 11, 2001 and April 22, 2003. A small population containing approximately 40 individuals does exist however in a small area upstream from the part of the creek that is regularly surveyed.
Based on the decline of the Tumbling Creek cavesnail, it is listed as endangered at United States Fish and Wildlife Service list of endangered species since August 14, 2002. Although the primary limiting factor of the population appears to be decreased water quality, due to increased erosion and water pollution in the cave's recharge area, scientific research is needed to confirm this hypothesis.
Tumbling Creek cavesnail is Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.
Sources
Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Tumbling Creek cavesnail, Wikidata item Q3138132. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.
