Conservation genetics of a critically endangered limpet genus and rediscovery of an extinct species.

ABSTRACT:

Background

A third of all known freshwater mollusk extinctions worldwide have occurred within a single medium-sized American drainage. The Mobile River Basin (MRB) of Alabama, a global hotspot of temperate freshwater biodiversity, was intensively industrialized during the 20(th) century, driving 47 of its 139 endemic mollusk species to extinction. These include the ancylinid limpet Rhodacmea filosa, currently classified as extinct (IUCN Red List), a member of a critically endangered southeastern North American genus reduced to a single known extant population (of R. elatior) in the MRB.

Methodology/principal findings

We document here the tripling of known extant populations of this North American limpet genus with the rediscovery of enduring Rhodacmea filosa in a MRB tributa

SUBMITTER: O Foighil D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3105076 | biostudies-literature | 2011

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature