Pleurocera acuta

Pleurocera acuta, common name the sharp hornsnail, is a species of small freshwater snail with a gill and an operculum, an aquatic gastropod mollusk in the family Pleuroceridae, the hornsnails.

Pleurocera acuta
Apertural view of a shell of Pleurocera acuta
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Mollusca
Class:
Gastropoda
(unranked):
clade Caenogastropoda
clade Sorbeoconcha
Superfamily:
Cerithioidea
Family:
Pleuroceridae
Genus:
Pleurocera
Species:
P. acuta
Binomial name
Pleurocera acuta

Shell description

The shell can have up to 14 whorls. The shell of this species can be as long as 37 mm.[1]

Distribution

Pleurocera acuta is native to the United States. It occurs in the Ohio River and Great Lakes drainages; the Mississippi River west to Kansas and Nebraska.[1]

This species is listed as threatened in some Midwestern states.[1]

The nonindigenous distribution of Pleurocera acuta includes the Lower Hudson River drainage and Oneida Lake in New York State. It was introduced there, probably via the Erie Canal.[1]

Ecology

This species is found in freshwater rivers and streams where it burrows in sand and mud. Eggs are laid in the spring.[1]

References

This article incorporates public domain text from the reference [1]

  1. Benson A. (2008). Pleurocera acuta. USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database, Gainesville, FL. <https://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/FactSheet.asp?speciesID=2234> Revision Date: 4/22/2004.

Further reading
  • Dazo B. C. (1962). "The morphology and natural history of Pleurocera acuta Rafinesque and Goniobasis livescens (Menke) (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Prosobranchia)". Biological Station, University of Michigan (UMBS). http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/handle/2027.42/52120
  • Katherine Hanke Houp. (January 1970) "Population Dynamics of Pleurocera acuta in a Central Kentucky Limestone Stream". American Midland Naturalist 83(1): 81-88.
  • Strong E. E. (2005) "A morphological reanalysis of Pleurocera acuta Rafinesque, 1831, and Elimia livescens (Menke, 1830) (Gastropoda: Cerithioidea: Pleuroceridae)". The Nautilus 119(4): 119-132. abstract, http://hdl.handle.net/10088/7388
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