Montana Field Guide

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Montana Field Guides

Home - Other Field Guides
- Kingdom - Animals - Animalia
  - Phylum - Mollusks - Mollusca
    - Class - Snails / Slugs - Gastropoda
      - Order - Aquatic Snails - Basommatophora
        
        Family - Fossarias / Pondsnails / Lanxs - Lymnaeidae
        
        Species - Marsh Fossaria - Galba humilis

Marsh Fossaria - Galba humilis

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Native Species

Global Rank: G5
State Rank: SNR

Agency Status
USFWS:
USFS:
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General Description

This tolerant little snail (5-10mm) is common in the prairie regions of eastern Montana in temporary habitats such as stock ponds, prairie stream pools and wetlands. It is able to survive dessication by sealing off its aperature (shell opening) and keeping its internal organs moist while it waits for the next rain pools to form. This species generally does better with aqautic vegetation where it crawls along stems of rushes, cattails, etc. feeds on algae and other attached detritus by scraping it with it radula (toothed mouth).

Observations in Montana Natural Heritage Program Database

Number of Observations: 77

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Relative Density

Recency

(Observations spanning multiple months or years are excluded from time charts)

Ecology

Species may be found in intermittent waters including temporary ponds and streams:

References

Additional ReferencesLegend: View Online Publication
Do you know of a citation we're missing?
- Hendricks, P., S. Lenard, D.M. Stagliano, and B.A. Maxell. 2013. Baseline nongame wildlife surveys on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation. Report to the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation. Montana Natural Heritage Program, Helena, MT. 83 p.
- Squyer, H. 1894. List of shells from the vicinity of Mingusville, Montana. The Nautilus 8:63-65.
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Dragonflies / Damselflies

Ferns and allies

Conifers

Flowering Plants (Dicots)

Flowering Plants (Monocots)

Citation for data on this website:
Marsh Fossaria — Galba humilis. Montana Field Guide. Montana Natural Heritage Program. Retrieved on April 23, 2024, from https://FieldGuide.mt.gov/speciesDetail.aspx?elcode=IMGASL1100