Both the Atlantic and the Gulf drainages of Georgia are covered, through the Florida panhandle... more
The four ecoregions of North Carolina drain toward the Atlantic through six major river systems... more
Although perhaps not as environmentally heterogeneous as neighboring states, South Carolina does include... more
The survey reported here is focused on the eastern 75% of the state, draining from the Blue Ridge to the Atlantic... more
All waters draining into the Tennessee River above the Alabama line, including SW Virginia, W North Carolina, and N Georgia... more
A study area of approximately 150,000 km2, including Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, eastern Pennsylvania and the West Virginia panhandle... more
A survey of all waters draining into the Ohio River upstream from the mouth of the Tennessee/Cumberland at River Mile 920... more
> Habitat & Distribution
Hubricht was aware of just two proserpina populations in 1940, one at a spring outlet in St. Louis County, the type inhabiting a cave in Jefferson County, Missouri. Hershler and colleagues added a cave population in Ste. Genevieve County in 1990; Wu and colleagues added second populations in St. Louis and Ste. Genevieve Counties in 1997.
All known populations of F. proserpina inhabit subterranean streams, or seem to have been immediately carried from subterranean environments. A broad-brush review of the zoogeography of North American cavesnails has been offered by Hershler & Holsinger (1990), and a more detailed review for the genus Fontigens by Gladstone and colleagues (2021). FWGNA incidence unranked.
> Ecology & Life History
Fontigens proserpina is stygophilic, possibly stygobiontic, entirely unpigmented and blind. The waters of limestone caves are (of course) rich in minerals, but poor in organics. Presumably the entire ecosystem of F. proserpina is based on fine organic matter raining down from the lighted world above.
Populations (of all Fontigens species) typically seem to maintain constant densities year-round, as though reproduction might be continuous. This would certainly seem a reasonable assumption for F. proserpina, living nearly divorced from seasonal cues. Weck (2022) reported approximately one year to maturity (3 mm) in laboratory populations of the cave-dwelling Fontigens antroecetes, constant low levels of reproduction (25 - 80 eggs/pair/yr), and a lengthy hatch time of 70 - 80 days.
> Taxonomy & Systematics
Hubricht (1940) originally described proserpina in the genus Amnicola. The taxon was shifted to Fontigens by Peck and Lewis (1978). Fontigens proserpina was one of the nine species reviewed by Hershler, Holsinger, and Hubricht in their splendid monograph of 1990. The 2.0 mm holotype shell (ANSP 175558) is figured above, courtesy of Paul Callomon, Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia.
A detailed shell-morphological analysis of all nine Hershler species has been contributed by Gladstone et al (2021). The elaborate penis bears three accessory lobes, which prompted Hershler and colleagues to join it with F. antroecetes and F. bottimeri into a “bottimeri group.”
We are not aware of any genetic data available for Fontigens proserpina.
Taylor (1966) suggested that Fontigens comprised a distinct hydrobiid subfamily, the Fontigentinae, which Hershler et al. (1990) synonymized under the Emmericiinae of Brusina (1870). Wilke et al. (2013) did not confirm a close association between Fontigens (represented by but a single sample) and the European genus Emmericia, however, tentatively returning the Fontigentinae to subfamilial status. Despite this evidence, self-appointed experts insisted on placing Fontigens in the Emmericiidae for several years (Bouchet et al. 2017), until Gladstone & Whelan (2022) split the genus to its own separate family, the Fontigentidae.
> Maps and Supplementary Resources
> Essays
- I wrote an essay on 22Aug07 about a hunt for the troglobitic hydrobiid Holsingeria unthanksensis in southwest Virginia, offering some observations likely relevant to the biology of Fontigens proserpina as well. See Cave Snail Adventure.
- Earlier versions of this website, online until August of 2016, adopted the large, broadly-inclusive concept of the Hydrobiidae (sl) following Kabat & Hershler (1993). More recently the FWGNA project has shifted to the Wilke et al. (2013) classification system, distinguishing a much smaller Hydrobiidae (ss) and elevating many hydrobioid taxa previously ranked as subfamilies to the full family level. For more details, see The Classification of the Hydrobioids.
- See my essay of 9Aug22, Startled by Fontigens, sort-of, I suppose for a review of the paper by Liu et al. (2021) documenting unusually high levels of intraspecific mtDNA sequence divergence among populations of Fontigens throughout eastern North America.
> References
Bouchet, P., J. Rocroi, B. Hausdorf, A. Kaim, Y. Kano, A. Nutzel, P. Parkhaev, M. Schrodl, and E. Strong (2017) Revised classification, nomenclator and typification of gastropod and monoplacophoran families. Malacologia, 61: 1 526.
Craig, J.L. (1975) A checklist of the invertebrate species recorded from Missouri subterranean habitats. Missouri Speleology 15: 1 – 10.
Gladstone, N.S., E. Pieper, S. Keenan, A. Paterson, M. Slay, K. Dooley, A. Engel, and M. Niemiller (2021) Discovery of the Blue Ridge springsnail, Fontigens orolibas Hubricht 1957 (Gastropoda: Emmericiidae) in East Tennessee and its conservation implications. Freshwater Mollusk Biology and Conservation 24: 34 - 42.
Gladstone, N. S. and N. Whelan (2022) Pushing barcodes to their limits: phylogenetic placeament of Fontigens Pilsbry, 1933 (Caenogasatropoda: Littorinimorpha: Truncatelloidea) and elevation of Fontigentidae Taylor, 1966. Journal of Molluscan Studies 88: eyab038.
Hershler, R. H. & J. R. Holsinger (1990) Zoogeography of North American hydrobiid cavesnails. Stygologia 5: 5-16.
Hershler, R., J.R. Holsinger & L. Hubricht (1990) A revision of the North American freshwater snail genus Fontigens (Prosobranchia: Hydrobiidae). Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology 509:1-49.
Hubricht, Leslie (1940) The Ozark Amnicolas. Nautilus 53: 118–122.
Kabat, A.R., and R. Hershler (1993) The prosobranch snail family Hydrobiidae (Gastropoda: Rissooidea): review of classification and supraspecific taxa. Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology 547:1-94.
Liu, H-P., L. Schroeder, A. Berry, and R. T. Dillon, Jr. (2021) High levels of mitochondrial DNA sequence divergence among isolated populations of Fontigens (Truncatelloidea: Emmericiidae) in eastern USA. Journal of Molluscan Studies 87: eyab026. [pdf]
Peck, S.B., and J.J. Lewis (1978) Zoogeography and Evolution of the Subterranean Invertebrate
Faunas of Illinois and Southeastern Missouri. National Speleological Society Bulletin, 40:39-63.
Pilsbry, H.A. (1933) Amnicolidae from Wyoming and Oregon. Nautilus 64: 37 – 39.
Taylor, D.W. (1966) Summary of North American Blancan nonmarine molluscs. Malacologia 4: 1 - 172.
Taylor, S.J., R. Weck, M.R. Douglas, J. Tiemann, and C.A. Phillips (2013) Baseline monitoring and molecular characterization of the state endangered Enigmatic Cavesnail, Fontigens antroecetes (Hubrich 1940). Final Report to the Illinois Endangered Species Protection Board. 24 pp.
Weck, R.G. (2022) Life history observations of the Illinois state endangered Enigmatic Cavesnail, Fontigens antroecetes (Hubricht, 1940) made under simulated cave conditions. Subterranean Biology 43: 185 - 198.
Wilke T., Haase M., Hershler R., Liu H-P., Misof B., Ponder W. (2013) Pushing short DNA fragments to the limit: Phylogenetic relationships of hydrobioid gastropods (Caenogastropoda: Rissooidea). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 66: 715-736.
Wu, S-K., R.D. Oesch, and M.E. Gordon (1997) Missouri Aquatic Snails. Missouri Department of Conservation Natural History Series No. 5. 97 pp.