FWGNA Information Resources


I. Bibliographies

Bibliography for the Identification of North American Freshwater Snails.  This is Rob Dillon's compilation of guidebooks, keys, monographs, systematic reviews, regional surveys, checklists, and any other published reference material potentially useful for identifying our freshwater gastropod fauna, 1900 - present.  It is available in three forms:

Please feel free to email Rob Dillon (dillonr@cofc.edu) with any additions or corrections you may have for this bibliography.
 

Freshwater Mollusk Bibliography Online.  A searchable database including over 10,000 references on freshwater mollusks worldwide.  This marvelous resource is a collaborative effort by Kevin Cummings (Illinois Natural History Survey), Art Bogan (North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences), Tom Watters (the Ohio State University Museum of Biological Diversity) and Chris Mayer (Illinois Natural History Survey).  Funded by the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation.



II. On-line Reference Works

Cvancara, A. M.  (1983)  Aquatic mollusks of North Dakota.  North Dakota Geological Survey, Report of Investigation No. 78.  Jamestown, ND: Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center Home Page.   This online version (both downloadable and clickable) of the original 141 page work (covering bivalves as well as gastropods) is brought to you by the good folks at USGS.

Dillon, R. T. & T. W. Stewart (2003) The freshwater gastropods of South Carolina.  Photo gallery, clickable dichotomous key, distribution maps, and individual accounts for the 28 freshwater gastropod species found in the state.

Dillon, R. T. (in press).  How to Study and Collect Freshwater Gastropods.  This is a general-interest chapter from a forthcoming publication of the American Malacological Society, How to Study and Collect Mollusks.  It is available for circulation as a PDF file, 65k.

Hayes, D. & A. D. Christian (2006)Arkansas Freshwater Snail (Mollusca: Gastropoda) Checklist.  Generated from museum holdings, review of relevant literature, and collections housed at Arkansas State University Mollusk Collection.  Includes photos and conservation rankings.

Thompson, F. G. (1984) The Freshwater Snails of Florida, A Manual for Identification.  This clickable key is based on the 94 pg. original published by the University Presses of Florida.

Wethington, A. R. (2004)  Family Physidae.  A supplement to the workbook accompanying the FMCS Freshwater Identification Workshop, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa.  PDF, 532k.

Wu, Oesch & Gordon (1997)  Missouri Aquatic Snails.  Larry Watrous has started on-line versions (with photos) of several Missouri Dept of Conservation publications.



III. Collections

Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia  - This database contains over 500,000 records of specimens in the ANSP Malacology department collections.  And growing!

Florida Museum of Natural History - Both the (279 record) type collection and the (266,710 record) main collection of the Malacology Department are searchable by standard query.

Illinois Natural History Survey Mollusk Collection - A searchable database including over 104,300 catalogued specimens, most of which were collected in Illinois and the southeastern United States.  About 5% of the collection is freshwater gastropods.

National Museum of Wales - A nicely curated collection, conveniently searchable.  Its holdings of North American freshwater gastropods are not negligible.

Ohio State University Museum Mollusc Division.  Click the "Rivers Database" button for a searchable database of over 7,000 drainages used by the Mollusc Division in preparing locality information.

Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum.  This collection (located on Florida's Sanibel Island) does include some freshwater gastropod holdings.

Systematic Research Collections of Recent and Fossil Mollusca.  This link takes you to a list of museums compiled by Kevin S. Cummings (Illinois Natural History Survey), Anton Oleinik (Purdue University), and John H. Slapcinsky (Field Museum of Natural History).



IV. Conservation

NatureServe - Hit the "NatureServe Explorer" button and search a very nice database for the distribution of any North American freshwater gastropod by state.  The "heritage rank" is an overall estimate of conservation status.

Federal List of Threatened & Endangered Gastropods.  This includes 20 freshwater species, as of 7/03.

Federal List of Gastropods Proposed & Candidate for special status.  This includes 15 freshwater species, as of 7/03.

IUCN Redlist of Threatened Species - Includes 215 North American freshwater gastropods as of 7/04.


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