> Lymnaea (Pseudosuccinea) columella Say 1817

> Habitat & Distribution
L. columella is widespread throughout eastern North America, and has been introduced around the world.  The snail is ubiquitous in the southeastern Atlantic drainages, in slow waters and lentic environments, especially at the margins of lakes, ponds, and swamps, on floating or emergent vegetation.

> Ecology & Life history
As an invader of new habitats, Lymnaea columella plays in the league with Physa acuta and Helisoma trivolvis.  Less is known about its biology, however, because the amphibious habit of L. columella does not suit it well for culture in the tanks or cups that serve as standard laboratory vessels.  It has a stronger trophic apparatus than Physa, well-suited for consuming filamentous algae and macrophytes (Kesler et al. 1986).  Jokinen (1985) reported two generations per year in an L. columella population from Connecticut (Bis of Dillon 2000: 156-162).

> Taxonomy & Systematics
Hubendick’s (1951) monograph is arguably the finest review of any single mollusk family ever written.  His careful analysis suggested strongly that that the total number of biological species in the family Lymnaeidae is around 40, 14 of which inhabit North America.

Burch (following Baker 1911) recognized nine genera of North American lymnaeids, and three additional subgenera, placing columella in the monotypic genus Pseudosuccinea.  Rather than assign each American species to its own genus, however, I would prefer to follow Hubendick and place all under the single genus Lymnaea.

> Essay #1
See my 28Dec06 post to the FWGNA web site for a review of the systematics of the Lymnaeidae.

> Charming Essay by Bill Hilton, Jr.
Out to the Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History for notes on L. columella, featuring excellent photos of the living snail, its shell, eggs and embryos.

> Maps of Lymnaea distribution
Click the small map to enlarge it, or download the state-specific PDFs



North Carolina (PDF)

South Carolina (PDF)

Georgia (PDF)

> References
Baker, F. C. (1911) The Lymnaeidae of North and Middle America, Recent and Fossil. Special Publication No. 3., Chicago: Chicago Academy of Natural Sciences.  DeWitt, R. M., & W. C. Sloan (1958)  The innate capacity for increase in numbers in the pulmonate snail, Lymnaea columella. Transactions of the American Microscopical Society, 77: 290-294.  Gutierrez, A., Perera, G., Yong, M. & Wong, L.  (2001)  The effect of isolation on the Life-history Traits of Pseudosuccinea columella (Pulmonata: Lymnaeidae).  Mem. Inst. Oswaldo Cruz 96: 577-581.  Harris, R., & W. Charleston (1977)  An examination of the marsh microhabitats of Lymnaea tormentosa and L. columella (Mollusca: Gastropoda) by path analysis. New Zealand J. Zool., 4: 395-399.  Hubendick, B. (1951) Recent Lymnaeidae.  Their variation, morphology, taxonomy, nomenclature, and distribution. Kungl. Svenska Vetensk. Akad. Handl., 3, 1-223.  Jokinen, E.  (1985)  Comparative life history patterns within a littoral zone snail community. Verh. Internat. Verein, Limnol., 22: 3292-3399.  Jokinen, E.  (1987)  Structure of freshwater snail communities: species-area relationships and incidence categories. Am. Malacol. Bull., 5: 9-19.  Kesler, D. H., E. H. Jokinen, & W. R. Munns (1986)  Trophic preferences and feeding morphology of two pulmonate snail species from a small New England pond, U.S.A. Canadian Journal of Zoology, 64: 2570-2575.  Kesler, D., & W. Munns, Jr. (1989)  Predation by Belostoma flumineum (Hemiptera) an important cause of mortality in freshwater snails. Journal of the North American Benthological Society, 8: 342-350.