An Extinct Mollusk is Alive and Well

Mass Extinction is typically associated with dinosaurs, so when a long extinct mollusk turns up in North America, scientists start talking. About 60 years ago in North America 47 species of mollusk disappeared after the watershed in which they lived was dammed. The Mobile River Basin historically supported the greatest biodiversity of freshwater snail species in the world , including six genera and over 100 species that were endemic to the Mobile River Basin.

Now, a population of one of those species---a freshwater limpet last seen more than 60 years ago and presumed extinct---has been found in a tributary of the heavily dammed Coosa River in Alabama's Mobile River Basin. Researchers from the University of Michigan, the Alabama Aquatic Biodiversity Center and the Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commission reported the rediscovery May 31 in the online, open-access journal PLoS One.

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