Virginia Land Snails

Photo(s): Anguispira rugoderma Hubricht, 1938 by Jochen Gerber ©.

Click photo(s) to enlarge.

Anguispira rugoderma Hubricht, 1938 (not yet reported)

Family: Discidae
Common name: Pine Mountain Tigersnail

Identification
Width: 21-30 mm
Height:  12.5-16.4 mm
Whorls: 5.5-6.0

The shell of Anguispira rugoderma is a depressed heliciform, with an open umbilicus and a ridged sculpture. There are dark brownish irregular spots in a radial pattern. The shell is very much like A. alternata, but tends to be larger, has a wider umbilicus, and less-prominent markings. With magnification, strong growth wrinkles can be seen in addition to the ridge pattern.

Ecology
Anguispira rugoderma is found near rotten logs, in old growth or mature second growth tuliptree (Dourson, 2010).

Taxonomy
This animal was submerged within A. alternata knoxensis by Pilsbry (1948), but is now recognized as distinct (Hubricht, 1968).

Distribution
This animal is found only in four counties in southeastern Kentucky (Hubricht, 1985; Dourson, 2010), where it is listed as Endangered. Although it is not reported from Virginia, it may be found in the southwest bordering Kentucky. The type locality for A. rugoderma is on Pine Mountain, a part of which forms a segment of the Kentucky-Virginia line.

NatureServe Global Rank: G2
NatureServe State Rank: not reported for the state

 

Ken Hotopp 11/2013