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Terrestrial
Gastropods of the Columbia Basin, British Columbia
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| Terrestrial
Malacology in the Columbia Basin, British Columbia The snails and slugs in British Columbia have received little stud. Four brief accounts (Whiteaves 1905; Vanatta 1906; Berry 1922; Carl & Hardy 1945) and the monograph of Pilsbry (1939-1948) are the only literature having individual records of terrestrial gastropods of our study region: the Columbia Basin. The remoteness and ruggedness of much of B.C., the lack of knowledgeable individuals, and the difficulty of observing, collecting and studying what are mostly small species, have likely all contributed to the current situation. Many of the published records were made many years ago and some need verifying. The primary source of information for the terrestrial molluscs of North America is the comprehensive monograph Land Mollusca of North America (North of Mexico) by H.A. Pilsbry (1939-1948). After 1948, no additional information on the terrestrial molluscs of the Columbia Basin of British Columbia has appeared, although some taxonomic or distributional innovations have appeared from time to time (e.g. Vagvolgyi 1968; Bequaert & Miller 1973; Emberton 1995) for species known from the region. While not specifically concerned with the fauna of the Columbia Basin in British Columbia, there are several publications that are significant because they deal with adjacent areas or are important for other reasons. Dawson (1875) reported on the molluscs along the 49th parallel between the Lake of the Woods and the Rockies, and although Dawson did not collect or report from the Kootenay region of British Columbia, he did describe a form of Oreohelix subrudis, as "Helix limitaris" from Waterton Lake in the Rocky Mountains (now Alberta). Other reports from Alberta include Taylor (1895a, 1895b) listing species from Laggan (now Lake Louise, Alberta), and Mozley (1926, 1931, 1933) and Platt (1980) for Jasper. Vanatta (1914) and Berry (1919) reported on terrestrial molluscs of Montana. In 1905 the pre-eminent American malacologist of the day, William Healey Dall published Land and freshwater mollusks of Alaska and adjoining regions (Dall 1905). This is historically important as an early attempt to enumerate terrestrial molluscs from Canada and Alaska. The last major compilation of the molluscs of Canada is the checklist by La Rocque (1953). The annotated checklist of Bequaert & Miller (1973) is important for its taxonomic innovations and summaries of species' distributions in western North America, although the checklist is for Arizona. La Rocque (1962) and Drake (1963) give brief accounts of some of the personalities responsible for pioneering terrestrial malacology (study of molluscs) in British Columbia. This report for the Columbia Basin was adapted from a partially completed manuscript by R.G. Forsyth covering all the known British Columbia terrestrial molluscs. Included are illustrations being prepared for the British Columbia manuscript. Collections of terrestrial molluscs were made by Kelly Sendall, Philip Lambert and others in September 1998, and this material was identified by the author and added to the report under "Records". To these RBCM records were added records of material collected by the author and his wife, Tammy Forsyth, in 1997 and 1998, and those collected by Heike Reise and John Hutchinson in 1998 (now deposited in Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Görlitz, Germany). |
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Conspectus of Terrestrial Gastropods in the Columbia Basin, British Columbia
1Whiteaves
(1905) reported "Sphyradium edentulum" from Tobacco Plains,
but this record was later re-identified as Columella alticola
(now C. columella) by Berry
(1922). |
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BC Museum |
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