Aylacostoma

Aylacostoma
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
(unranked): clade Caenogastropoda

clade Sorbeoconcha

Superfamily: Cerithioidea
Family: Thiaridae
Genus: Aylacostoma
Spix, 1827[1]
Type species
Aylacostoma glabrum Spix, 1827
Diversity[2]
32 species

Aylacostoma is a genus of tropical freshwater snails with an operculum, aquatic gastropod molluscs in the family Thiaridae.

These snails are considered to be extinct in the wild.

Species

Species within genus Aylacostoma include:

Distribution

The native distribution of this genus includes Central and South America.[2]

Life habits

These snails used to live in areas of white water in the Yacyretá Rapids, Paraná River, feeding on the algae that grow attached to the rocks on the bottom. The water in the area is saturated with oxygen, from the fast-moving waters.

Aylacostoma is a parthenogenic species: the population consists of only females, which increase in number by asexual reproduction. The females give birth to a small number of larvae, no more than three, that are born very well developed, so they have the physical strength needed to attach to a rock and resist the strong current.

Conservation status

With the building in 1993 of the Yacyretá Dam, almost all the suitable habitat for Aylacostoma was flooded. All the species are now extinct in the wild. Although a small population is kept alive in aquariums, their future is uncertain, due to the difficulties in representing in captivity the original conditions of their habitat.

References

  1. Spix J. B. von (1827). Testacea fluviatilia quae in itinere per Brasiliam annis MDCCCXVII-MDCCCXX. page 15.
  2. 1 2 3 Paschoal L. R. P., Andrade D. d. P. & Cavallari D. C. (2013). "First record of Aylacostoma francana (Ihering, 1909) (Gastropoda, Thiaridae) in Minas Gerais state, Brazil". Biotemas 26(2): 277-281. doi:10.5007/2175-7925.2013v26n2p277.
  3. Pastorino G. & Darrigan G. (2011). "Aylacostoma osculati". In: IUCN 2013. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 07 December 2013.

External links

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