Terrestrial Gastropods of the Upper Fraser Basin of British Columbia ROBERT G. FORSYTH Research Associate, Royal BC Museum, Victoria 675 Belleville Street, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada V8W 9W2 http://www.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca LIVING LANDSCAPES: UPPER FRASER BASIN http://livinglandscapes.bc.ca Copyright © 2005 by the Royal British Columbia Museum. Figures 3 and 5 © Robert G. Forsyth On preceding page: Scanning electron photomicrograph of a specimen of Punctum randolphii (see page 10) from Bone Creek, North Thompson River (outside of the upper Fraser drainage) (RBCM 001- 00278-002). Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Data Forsyth, Robert G. Terrestrial gastropods of the Upper Fraser Basin of British Columbia [electronic resource] Available on the Internet. “Living Landscapes: Upper Fraser Basin” Includes bibliographical references: p. ISBN 0-7726-5289-9 1. Gastropoda – British Columbia – Fraser River Watershed. 2. Gastropoda – British Columbia, Northern. I. Royal BC Museum. II. Title. QL430.4.F67 2005 594.3’0971182 C2005-960032-2 This report can be cited as: Forsyth, Robert G. 2005. Terrestrial Gastropods of the Upper Fraser Basin of British Columbia. Living Landscapes, Royal BC Museum, Victoria. http://www.livinglandscapes.bc.ca/upperfraserbasin/ ufb_snails/index.html [HTML version] or http://www.livinglandscapes. bc.ca/upperfraserbasin/ufb-snails/UFB-Snails.pdf [PDF version]. Terrestrial Gastropods of the Upper Fraser Basin of British Columbia ROBERT G. FORSYTH* Research Associate, Royal BC Museum, Victoria 675 Belleville Street, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada V8W 9W2 *Mailing address: Box 3804, Smithers, British Columbia, Canada V0J 2N0 ABSTRACT — Information on the terrestrial gastropod fauna Family Cionellidae . 7 is compiled from new or recent field collections, museum records Family Valloniidae . 7 and literature for that part of British Columbia encompassing Family Vertiginidae . 7 the basin of the Fraser River north of about 52° N. Recent Family Punctidae . 10 fieldwork (2001) has added many new locality records for Family Discidae . 10 a region that has received little study and has significantly Family Euconulidae . 11 improved the region’s representation of terrestrial gastropods Family Gastrodontidae . 11 in the collection of the Royal British Columbia Museum. At Family Daudebardiidae least 28 species belonging to 18 genera are recorded from 83 . 12 localities. All but three species were previously unreported in Family Vitrinidae . 12 the literature from this area of British Columbia. Family Limacidae . 12 Family Agriolimacidae . 12 Family Arionidae . 13 CONTENTS Conclusions . 13 Overview of the Project . 5 Acknowledgements . 14 Materials and Methods . 5 Literature Cited . 14 Annotated Species List . 5 Distribution Maps . 17 Family Succineidae . 7 Locality — Locality Data . 23 4 | LIVING LANDSCAPES: UPPER FRASER BASIN 0 4 1 – 0 100 200 300 kilometres 55 British Columbia 1 2 3 4 6 5 7 8 50 – – 1 1 0 5 2 1 3 3 0 5 1 1 – – Figure 1 Location of the upper Fraser Basin in the province of British Columbia. 1, Burns Lake; 2, Vanderhoof; 3, Prince George; 4, McBride; 5, Valemount; 6, Quesnel; 7, Williams Lake; 8, 100 Mile House. OVERVIEW OF THE PROJECT lections, two published scientific papers, and my own This report, as part of Living Landscapes, documents collections and unpublished data. In June 2001 I took the terrestrial molluscs (snails and slugs) of the up- part in fieldwork for the purpose of collecting speci- per Fraser Basin. This is a vast region of British Co- mens for the Invertebrate Zoology Collection of the lumbia that extends from the headwaters of the Fra- Royal BC Museum. Previous to this, the upper Fraser ser River at the Alberta border (52°34´N, 118°16´W; Basin was poorly represented in the museum’s collec- 52°53´N, 118°27´W at the Yellowhead Pass) west to tion. The main objectives of the project were: the Coast Mountains, including the headwaters of the • To survey for, and improve our knowledge of, terres- Nechako River. To the north the Fraser drainage ex- trial molluscs of the upper Fraser Basin; tends to Summit Lake on Highway 97 and northwest • To add value to specimens already part of the Royal to the headwaters of the Driftwood River (56°10´N, BC Museum collection by checking identifications 126°58´W) (Figure 1). and specimen data; and Existing data on terrestrial molluscs of the upper • To amalgamate collection records and data from vari- Fraser Basin consisted mostly of a few historical col- ous sources into a single document (this report). TERRESTRIAL GASTROPODS OF THE UPPER FRASER BASIN | 5 The majority of British Columbia’s terrestrial molluscs are tiny and usually overlooked in general natural his- tory surveys. Prior to the Royal BC Museum handbook, Land Snails of British Columbia (Forsyth 2004) only 100 km two publications (Stanwell-Fletcher & Stanwell-Fletcher 55 1943; Harris & Hubricht 1982) report any species from the upper Fraser Basin. Even the landmark monograph of Pilsbry (1939–1948) does not list locality records from this large area of British Columbia. This report documents the species of terrestrial mol- luscs known from the upper Fraser Basin, and gives the results of recent fieldwork. For further information on the species documented here, see Land Snails of British Columbia (Forsyth 2004), which includes full descrip- tions, figures and keys. – 1 MATERIALS AND METHODS 2 0 Most of the records documented here are the result of a reconnaissance survey of the upper Fraser Basin in July Figure 2 Collection localities (from all sources) in the upper Fraser Basin (see Appendix for data). 2001. The primary purpose was to obtain specimens and data of terrestrial molluscs for the Royal British Colum- bia Museum. Time limitations prevented us from survey- identify to species any of the succineids that I have seen. ing the expansive plateau area west of Williams Lake and While in the field, locality geopositions were acquired Quesnel, and our efforts were concentrated in the areas using a hand held GPS; these readings were subsequently to the east and west of Prince George and around Ques- checked on National Topographic Series 1:50,000-scale nel. Most of the collections documented in this report are paper maps or electronic versions of these maps. Some from along or near highways and other roads. Few collec- earlier museum collections lack precise position data tions were made at high-elevation sites. (most CMN records, for example) and an approximate Specimens were collected by hand picking from soil, position was derived from maps for mapping purposes. leaf litter, rocks, logs and other dead wood, and were in- Elevations above sea level (abbreviated as a.s.l.) presented corporated into the Invertebrate Zoology Collection of in the Appendix and elsewhere are approximate, having the Royal British Columbia Museum, Victoria (RBCM). been secondarily derived from maps and in most cases All slug and some snail material were drowned in water converted from feet to metres. (to relax animal and extend the bodies), then preserved in This report uses the same nomenclature as appears in 70% EtOH (ethyl alcohol). A portion of the shelled snail Land Snails of British Columbia (Forsyth 2004). material was put directly into EtOH, dried later in the lab for the dry collection. Specimens from my personal study collection (RGF) ANNOTATED SPECIES LIST and some material from the Canadian Museum of Na- In June 2001 a total of 53 localities or stations were sur- ture (CMN) were examined, and their data included in veyed, in addition to other localities outside the upper Fraser this report. However, the collection of the CMN was not Basin Living Landscapes region and beyond the scope of this exhaustively studied, as much of the material was inacces- report. They form the majority of the 83 unique localities sible to me. listed in the Appendix (see also Figure 2). I also briefly include the catalogue number for one Thirteen families1, 16 genera and 27 species (exclu- lot of Succineidae that were cited by Harris & Hubricht sive of the Succineidae) are documented here from the (1982) from the upper Fraser Basin and now part of the Invertebrate Collection of the Field Museum of Natural 1The families used here are as presented in Land Snails of British History (FMNH, Chicago). I have not attempted, how- Columbia (Forsyth 2004); many North American authors (for ever, to verify these identifications, nor have I tried to example, Turgeon et al. 1998) recognize fewer families. 6 | LIVING LANDSCAPES: UPPER FRASER BASIN Table 1 Conspectus of terrestrial gastropods in the upper Fraser Basin. Species Native/Introduced Literature Source or Collection Containing Records(a) Arion circumscriptus Introduced RBCM [LL] Arion subfuscus Introduced RBCM Cochlicopa lubrica Native? (b) RBCM [LL] Columella columella Native RBCM [LL] Columella edentula Native RBCM [LL], RGF Deroceras laeve Native RBCM [LL], CMN Deroceras reticulatum Introduced RBCM [LL], CMN Discus shimekii Native Stanwell-Fletcher & Stanwell-Fletcher (1943); see text Discus whitneyi Native RBCM, RBCM [LL], RGF, CMN Euconulus fulvus Native RBCM, RBCM [LL], RGF, CMN Euconulus praticola Native RBCM [LL], RGF Limax maximus Introduced RBCM [LL] Nesovitrea binneyana Native RBCM [LL] , RGF Nesovitrea electrina Native RBCM [LL] Oxyloma nuttallianum Native Harris & Hubricht (1982), FMNH Paralaoma servilis Native RGF Punctum randolphii Native RBCM [LL] Prophysaon andersonii Native RBCM, RBCM [LL], CMN Vallonia excentrica Introduced RBCM [LL] Vallonia pulchella Introduced RBCM [LL] Vertigo arthuri Native RGF Vertigo cristata Native RBCM [LL] Vertigo gouldii Native RBCM [LL] Vertigo modesta Native RBCM [LL], RGF Vertigo ovata Native RBCM [LL] Vitrina pellucida Native RBCM [LL] , RGF, CMN Zonitoides arboreus Native RBCM [LL] , RGF, CMN Zoogenetes harpa Native RBCM [LL] Unidentified Succineidae Native RBCM [LL], RGF (a) Abbreviations are as follows: CMN: Canadian Museum of Nature; FMNH: Field Museum of Natural History; RBCM: Royal British Columbia Museum (collections made prior to Living Landscapes); RBCM [LL]: Royal BC Museum (collections made in 2001 for Living Landscapes); RGF: author’s reference collection.