Leptoxis carinata, common name

Common name

A common name of a taxon or organism is a name in general use within a community; it is often contrasted with the scientific name for the same organism...

 the crested mudalia, is a species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 of freshwater snail

Freshwater snail

A freshwater snail is one kind of freshwater mollusc, the other kind being freshwater clams and mussels, i.e. freshwater bivalves. Specifically a freshwater snail is a gastropod that lives in a watery non-marine habitat. The majority of freshwater gastropods have a shell, with very few exceptions....

 with an operculum

Operculum (gastropod)

The operculum, meaning little lid, is a corneous or calcareous anatomical structure which exists in many groups of sea snails and freshwater snails, and also in a few groups of land snails...

, an aquatic gastropod mollusk in the family Pleuroceridae

Pleuroceridae

Pleuroceridae, common name pleurocerids, is a family of small to medium-sized freshwater snails, aquatic gilled gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Cerithioidea.These snails have an operculum and typically a robust high-spired shell....

.

Shell description

Leptoxis carinata has a shell

Gastropod shell

The gastropod shell is a shell which is part of the body of a gastropod or snail, one kind of mollusc. The gastropod shell is an external skeleton or exoskeleton, which serves not only for muscle attachment, but also for protection from predators and from mechanical damage...

 and an operculum

Operculum (gastropod)

The operculum, meaning little lid, is a corneous or calcareous anatomical structure which exists in many groups of sea snails and freshwater snails, and also in a few groups of land snails...

.

Life cycle

Leptoxis carinata is semelparous biennial.

This species, unlike softer shelled physid

Physidae

Physidae, common name bladder snails, are a monophyletic taxonomic family of small freshwater snails, aquatic pulmonate gastropod molluscs in the clade Hygrophila....

 snails, grows very slowly, and has the lowest intrinsic rate of increase (this means that populations grow very slowly), along with Elimia virginica

Elimia virginica

Elimia virginica, common names the Piedmont elimia or Virginia river snail, is a species of freshwater snail with an operculum, an aquatic gastropod mollusk in the family Pleuroceridae.- Shell description :...

, in this environment.

Further reading

• Stewart T. W. & Garcia J. E. (2002). "Environmental Factors Causing Local Variation in Density and Biomass of the Snail Leptoxis carinata, in Fishpond Creek, Virginia". American Midland Naturalist 148(1) 172-180. JSTOR.
• Crested mudalia (Leptoxis carinata) Chemical Toxicity Studies