Check List 11(3): e19234, doi: 10.15560/11.3.1636
Terrestrial snails (Gastropoda: Pulmonata) from Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park, Alberta, Canada
Robert G. Forsyth‡, Dwayne A. W. Lepitzki§‡ Royal British Columbia Museum, Canada§ Wildlife Systems Research, Canada
Corresponding author: Robert Forsyth ( rforsyth@telus.net ) © 2017 Robert Forsyth, Dwayne Lepitzki. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation:
Forsyth R, Lepitzki D (2015) Terrestrial snails (Gastropoda: Pulmonata) from Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park, Alberta, Canada. Check List 11(3): 1636. https://doi.org/10.15560/11.3.1636 |  |
Abstract
There are few studies on the terrestrial molluscs of the Great Plains of Alberta. Nearly all previously published surveys have focused on the faunas of the Rocky Mountain Foothills, the Cypress Hills, the Parklands of Central Alberta, or the boreal forests. By means of hand-picking and litter samples, we surveyed for the first time the terrestrial snail fauna in the Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park, southern Alberta, Canada. From among the hoodoos (weathered rock formations) and along the cliffs on the north side of the Milk River, we found terrestrial snails at four of our five sites within the hot, dry valley of the river. Our study confirms our assumptions that the terrestrial snail fauna in these hostile habitats lacks diversity.
Keywords
Mollusca; land snails; Succineidae; Vallonia gracilicosta; Pupilla blandii; Discus shimekii; species’ inventory; Great Plains