View source for Biology:Laevapex fuscus

{{Short description|Species of gastropod}}
{{Italic title}}
{{Taxobox
| name = ''Laevapex fuscus''
| image = 
| image_caption = 
| status = LC
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| status_ref = <ref name="iucn status 20 November 2021">{{cite iucn |author=Cordeiro, J. |author2=Perez, K. |date=2012 |title=''Laevapex fuscus'' |volume=2012 |page=e.T188920A1915577 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2012-1.RLTS.T188920A1915577.en |access-date=20 November 2021}}</ref> 
| regnum = [[Biology:Animal|Animal]]ia
| phylum = [[Biology:Mollusca|Mollusca]]
| classis = [[Biology:Gastropoda|Gastropoda]]
| unranked_superfamilia = clade [[Biology:Heterobranchia|Heterobranchia]]<br/>clade [[Biology:Euthyneura|Euthyneura]]<br/>clade [[Biology:Panpulmonata|Panpulmonata]]<br/>clade Hygrophila
| superfamilia = [[Biology:Planorboidea|Planorboidea]]
| familia = [[Biology:Planorbidae|Planorbidae]]
| subfamilia = Planorbinae
| tribus = [[Biology:Ancylini|Ancylini]]
| genus = ''[[Biology:Laevapex|Laevapex]]''
| species = '''''L. fuscus'''''
| binomial = ''Laevapex fuscus''
| binomial_authority = (C.B. Adams, 1841)
| synonyms = 
}}

'''''Laevapex fuscus''''', the '''dusky ancylid''', is a [[Biology:Species|species]] of small, freshwater, air-breathing [[Biology:Limpet|limpet]], an aquatic pulmonate gastropod [[Biology:Mollusc|mollusc]] or micromollusc in the family [[Biology:Planorbidae|Planorbidae]], the ram's horn snails and their allies.<ref name="CoL">{{cite web| url=http://www.catalogueoflife.org/col/details/species/id/13010737| title=''Laevapex fuscus'' C.B. Adams, 1841| editor=Roskov Y.| editor2= Kunze T.| editor3=Orrell T.| editor4=Abucay L.| editor5=Paglinawan L.| editor6=Culham A.| editor7=Bailly N.| editor8=Kirk P. |editor9=Bourgoin T. |editor10=Baillargeon G. |editor11= Decock W. |editor12= De Wever A. |editor13=Didžiulis V.|work=Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life, 2014 Annual Checklist| publisher=Species 2000: Naturalis, Leiden, the Netherlands |access-date=7 July 2014}}</ref><ref>{{ITIS| id=76577| taxon=''Laevapex fuscus''  (C. B. Adams, 1841)| access-date=7 July 2014}}</ref>

== Geographic distribution ==
''L. fuscus'' is found throughout [[Earth:North America|North America]] east of the Great Plains, except for mountainous areas. It has been recorded in {{wipe|Canada}}, the {{wipe|United States}}, Jamaica and Puerto Rico.<ref name="iucn status 20 November 2021" /><ref name="fwgna">{{cite web| url=http://www.fwgna.org/species/ancylidae/l_fuscus.html| title=''Laevapex fuscus'' (C. B. Adams 1841)| author=Dillon, R. T. Jr.| author2=Watson, B.T.| author3=Stewart, T. W.| author4=Reeves, W. K.| name-list-style=amp| date=2006| work=The freshwater gastropods of North America| access-date=7 July 2014}}</ref><ref name="natureserve">{{cite web| url=http://explorer.natureserve.org/servlet/NatureServe?searchName=Laevapex+fuscus| title=''Laevapex fuscus'' - (C.B. Adams, 1841)| publisher=[[Organization:NatureServe|NatureServe]]| access-date=7 July 2014}}</ref>

== Description ==
''L. fuscus''  was originally described as ''Ancylus fuscus'' in 1841 by Charles Baker Adams:<ref>{{cite journal| author=Adams, C. B.| date=1841| title=Descriptions of thirteen new species of New England shells| journal=[[Boston Journal of Natural History]]| volume=3| number=3| pages=318–332| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nJ04AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA329| access-date=7 July 2014}}</ref>

:"''[[Biology:Gastropod shell|Shell]]'' thin, transparent without the epidermis, not much elevated, elliptical, moderately curved at the sides; ''epidermis'' brown, visible through the shell, giving it the appearance of having the same color, thick, rough, slightly extending beyond the margin of the shell; ''[[Biology:Apex (mollusc)#Gastropods|apex]]'' obtuse, moderately prominent, scarcely behind the middle, inclining to the right, so as to have only two fifths of the width on that side.

:Length, {{convert|.31|in|mm}}, width, {{cvt|.22|in|mm}}; height, {{cvt|.05|in|mm}}."

==Habitat and ecology==
''L. fuscus'' generally occurs in [[Earth:Lake ecosystem|lacustrine]] [[Earth:Habitat|habitat]]s,<ref name="basch59">{{cite journal| author=Basch, Paul F.| date=1959| title=The anatomy of ''Laevapex fuscus'', a freshwater limpet (Gastropoda: Pulmonata)| journal=Miscellaneous Publications | volume=108| pages=1–60| publisher=Museum of Zoology, [[Organization:University of Michigan|University of Michigan]] | location=Ann Arbor |hdl=2027.42/56352 | url=http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/56352/MP108.pdf?sequence=1| format=[[PDF]]| access-date=7 July 2014}}</ref> preferring calmer waters than other ancylid genera.<ref name="fwgna"/>

Simple annual ([[Biology:Voltinism|univoltine]]) and two-generation per year ([[Biology:Voltinism|bivoltine]]) life cycles have been reported in New York populations of ''L. fuscus''.<ref>{{cite journal| author=McMahon, R. F.| date=1975| title=Growth, reproduction and bioenergetic variation in three natural populations of a freshwater limpet ''Laevapex fuscus'' (C. B. Adams)| journal=Proceedings of the Malacological Society of London| volume=41| pages=331–351| url=http://mollus.oxfordjournals.org/content/41/4/331.extract| archive-url=https://archive.today/20140709154232/http://mollus.oxfordjournals.org/content/41/4/331.extract| url-status=dead| archive-date=2014-07-09| access-date=7 July 2014}}</ref> The bioenergetic data collected for the species suggest that its reproductive effort is in line with expectation from adult weight, and hence that its life history strategy is undifferentiated.<ref name="dillon00">{{cite book| author=Dillon, R. T.| date=2000| title=The ecology of freshwater molluscs| publisher={{wipe|Cambridge University Press}}| location=Cambridge, United Kingdom| url=http://malacolog.com/files/Dillon-2004.pdf| access-date=7 July 2014}}</ref> The species is functionally protandric, despite being one of the more specialised of higher limnic pulmonate snails.<ref>{{cite journal| author=Russell-Hunter, W. D.| author2=McMahon, R. F.| name-list-style=amp| date=1976| title=Evidence for functional protandry in a fresh-water basommatophoran limpet, ''Laevapex fuscus''| journal=Transactions of the American Microscopical Society| volume=95| number=2| pages=174–182| jstor=3225061}}</ref>

''L. fuscus'' has been observed attached to the wings or [[Biology:Elytron|hemelytra]] of the water bug species ''[[Biology:Belostoma flumineum|Belostoma flumineum]]'' ([[Biology:Hemiptera|Hemiptera]]: [[Biology:Belostomatidae|Belostomatidae]]). This observation suggests that belostomatids might serve as a mode of transport and a passive dispersal agent for ''L. fuscus'' and other ancylid species.<ref name="walther">{{cite thesis| type=Ph.D. thesis | author=Walther, A. C.| date=2008| title=A systematic study of North American freshwater limpets (Gastropoda: Hygrophila: Ancylidae)| chapter=Attachment of the freshwater limpet ''Laevapex fuscus'' to the hemelytra of the water bug ''Belostoma flumineum''| publisher=The University of Michigan| chapter-url=http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/61567/awalther_1.pdf?sequence=1| chapter-format=[[PDF]]| access-date=7 July 2014}}</ref>

==See also==
*List of non-marine molluscs of the United States
*List of non-marine molluscs of Jamaica
*List of non-marine molluscs of Puerto Rico

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q3691592}}

[[Category:Planorbidae]]

{{Sourceattribution|Laevapex fuscus}}