Land Snails of West Virginia

About this book

Land Snails of West Virginia combines historical research and a statewide land snail survey from 2006 to 2015, funded and facilitated by the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources (WVDNR). The land snail inventory represented perhaps the most comprehensive statewide land snail survey in North America. Biologists, Master Naturalists, and volunteers across West Virginia collected thousands of specimens, resulting in 459 new county records, 5 new state records and 7 species previously unknown to science. Over 17,000 specimens have been examined by the author alone as a result of this statewide endeavour. There are currently 168 native land snail species confirmed from West Virginia, 11 of which are endemic (more than any neighbouring state). Eighteen species are restricted to the borders of West Virginia and Virginia along the Ridge and Valley region. While the land snails in West Virginia are fairly well documented, there remains a dearth of basic biological and life history information for nearly all 168 species. One of the few snails that has received more than casual observation is the federally threatened Cheat three-tooth, Triodopsis platysayoides (Hotopp 2003; Dourson 2008).

The book contains general information on the importance of land snails in ecosystems, snail anatomy and biology, how to collect land snails, detailed species accounts for all native land snail species found in the state including slugs, exotic species, and a section on species occurring in border states but not yet documented in West Virgina.

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Biography

Dan Dourson is a biologist/naturalist/illustrator who has spent most of his adult life dedicated to the preservation, conservation and understanding of the planet's more obscure species. An employee of the US Forest Service for nearly 20 years, he worked to safeguard a myriad of species, including snails, mussels, bats, reptiles, amphibians, and other creatures too often ignored or misunderstood. Dan has also conducted biological inventories for the Nature Conservancy, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Kentucky States Parks, Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, West Virginia DNR and has worked for more than a decade studying land snails in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, USA as part of the ATBI, Discover Life in America Project.

He continues to work on land snail inventories in eastern North America and is currently staff biologist for the Belize Foundation for Research and Environmental Education in Belize, Central America. He has authored or illustrated nearly a dozen books, including the recent A Natural History of the Bladen Nature Reserve and its Gastropods, Belize, Central America and remains committed to conservation work protecting Earth's most amazing and unappreciated organisms. His allegiance to the natural world is clearly reflected through his writing and simple lifestyle. He divides his time between the USA and Belize with his wife, Judy. Together, they have three children and four grandchildren.