Land Snails of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Southern Appalachians Tennessee & North Carolina

About this book

This is an updated paperback reprint (using the same ISBN of the 2013 hardback) with minor updates and corrections.

Land Snails of the Great Smoky Mountains and Southern Appalachians is the result of extensive research as part of Discover Life in America's All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory (ATBI). The mollusca research began in 1999 and continued through 2013 with support from several mini-grants through DLIA. Prior to the ATBI, very little was known of the park's remarkable land snail diversity. Historical records preceding the (1998) ATBI project included around 91 species. Since then 55 species have been added, including two land snails previously unknown to science (Dourson 2012).

Land Snails of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Southern Appalachians is presented in two parts, Part I specifically covers 146 land snails; 27 species with restricted distributions surrounding the park. Part II expands its reaches beyond park boundaries to include an additional 44 species found in the Southern Appalachian Mountains from around Mount Rogers, Virginia, south to Chilhowee Mountain, Tennessee. total, 203 land snail species are covered in this text; with an astonishing 54 species endemic to the region. Also illustrated are 15 aquatic snails found around or in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

The book is fully illustrated with hundreds of colour photographs and drawings. A pictorial key for both parts is included and was designed for both the beginner and advanced malacologist alike. The book includes interesting facts about land snail ecology such as diet, reproduction, defence strategies, parasites, overall benefits and harmful effects on wildlife and humans. Also included is a comprehensive section devoted to exotic slugs.

Contents

Plight of the Environment   1
Introduction   3
Map of study area   11
Map of the GSMNP   12
Prelude to the Land Snails   17
How to Collect Land Snails   31
Shell Morphology   33
Basic Anatomy of Land Snails   36
 
PART I
Land Snails of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park   38
Abundance Categories for Land Snails of the Park   39
Identifying land shells   41
Pictorial Key to the Land Snails   43
Species Accounts of Land Snails   49
     Shells Taller than Wide, Simple Lip   50
     Shells Taller than Wide, Reflected Lip   56
     Shells Wider than Tall, Simple Lip (with or without teeth)   76
     Shells Pill-shaped with Narrow Aperture   178
     Shells Wider than Tall, Reflected Lip   190
The Native Slugs of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park   232
Beyond the Identification of Gastropods   255
 
PART II
Land Snails of the Southern Appalachians (not recorded from the GSMNP)   258
Pictorial Key to Land Snails of the Southern Appalachians   259
Exotic Slugs   312
Native Aquatic Snails of the GSMNP   317
Non-toxic Invasive Land Snail Control   319

Glossary   320
Bibliography   325
Index of Scientific Names   330
Index of Common Names   333

Customer Reviews

Biography

Dan Dourson is a biologist/naturalist/illustrator who has spent most of his adult life dedicated to the preservation, conservation and understanding of the planet's more obscure species. An employee of the US Forest Service for nearly 20 years, he worked to safeguard a myriad of species including snails, mussels, bats, reptiles, amphibians and other creatures too often ignored or misunderstood. Dan has also conducted biological inventories for the Nature Conservancy, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Kentucky States Parks, Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, West Virginia DNR and has worked for more than a decade studying land snails in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, USA as part of the ATBI, Discover Life in America Project.

He continues to work on land snail inventories in eastern North America and is currently staff biologist for Belize Foundation for Research and Environmental Education in Belize, Central America. He has authored or illustrated nearly a dozen books including the recent A Natural History of the Bladen Nature Reserve and its Gastropods, Belize, Central America and remains committed to conservation work protecting Earth's most amazing and unappreciated organisms. His allegiance with the natural world is clearly reflected through his writing and simple lifestyle. He divides his time between the USA and Belize with his wife, Judy. Together, they have three children, Brad, Angie and Tyler and four grandchildren Zach, Tessa, Jude and Callie.