Page 65 - Land Snails of New Mexico

descends along Silver Creek Canyon to about 7,000ft, near the townofMogollon,anddescendstoabout5,600ftalong Whitewater (not White) Canyon in the Catwalk area 5 miles northeastofGlenwood.IthasbeenrecordedalsofromtheBlue
Mountains, Greenlee Co., Arizona (Pilsbry 1940:944).
At low elevations in the canyons south of Whitewater Creek Canyon, A. mogollonensis is replaced by members of the A.
tetrodon--A. danielsi complex. However, in some places it occurs with A. tetrodon, as along Little Dry Creek Canyon. It has been taken as far north as Negrito Creek Canyon, near the northern end of the Mogollon Mountains. In summary, A. mogollonensis is the most widespread Ashmunella in N e w Mexico, areally,afterA. rhyssaoftheSacramento Mountains SierraBlanca area. Although more common inthehigh forests of the Mogollon Mountains, it tolerates a wide range of e l e v a t i o n s f r o m a t l e a s t 5 , 6 0 0 t o 1 0 , 0 0 0 ft.
Ashmunella danielsi danielsi H. A. Pilsbry and J. H. Ferriss, 1915. The Nautilus, 29:34, Pl. 2, Fig. 1. T.L.: Cave Spring Canyon, ca. 7,000-ft elevation, western Mogollon Mountains, Catron Co., New Mexico.
(Whitewater Creek woodlandsnail)
Ashmunella danielsi dispar H. A. Pilsbry and J. H.
Ferriss, 1915. The Nautilus, 29:41, Pl. 2, Fig. 2. T.L.: at
ca. 7,500 ft in Little Whitewater Creek Canyon east of
Glenwood, western Mogollon Mountains, Catron Co., N e w Mexico.
ItseemsprobablethatA. danielsidoesnotneedtobesplit into two subspecies. Their differences are minor, as indicated in their descriptions and as ascertained from paratypes inspected. Ashmunellad disparhasasmaller,thickershell,featuresthat likely are related to environmental differences.
We havelistedthetwosubspeciesheretoreflectthepresent situation in the literature. The entire complex of smaller Ashmunellas in the southwestern part of the Mogollon Mountains needs further analysis and assessment. It is likely that each major canyon extending at least from Rain Canyon northwesterly around to Little Whitewater Canyon has some member of the tetrodon-danielsi group. There are such representatives at least in Rain, Little Dry, Dry, and Sheridan Canyons, plus the two canyons listed above for A. danielsi. At present, this complex includes shells with four well-developed teeth; those with no teeth at all; and those, like danielsi, with threeteeth.Analysisofthisgroup would, no doubt, alsoinvolve theproblemofA.tetrodonfromtheBlackRange andSanMateo Mountains (as discussed above). Itispossible thatA. tetrodon tetrodon and A. danielsi danielsi ultimately might prove to be subspecies of the same species with existence of intergrading forms between the two. The major differences between them, insofar as shells are concerned, is the presence of a strong parietaltoothinA. tetrodon tetrodon and itscomplete absence inA. danielsisspp.
Distribution and Habitat--We have collectedA. danielsi
only in Little Whitewater Creek Canyon (type locality of A. d. dispar).WeassumethatthecanyonreferredtoasCaveSpring Canyon by Pilsbry and Ferriss (1915), which isthe type locality o f t h e n o m i n a l s u b s p e c i e s , is t h e c a n y o n b e l o w C a v e S p r i n g . It
is r e f e r r e d t o a s S h e l t o n C a n y o n o n m o d e r n m a p s , a n d is t h e n e x t majorcanyonsouthofLittleWhitewaterCreekCanyon.Inhis account, Pilsbry (1940:942) described Cave Spring Canyon as being north of Little Whitewater Creek, but all other aspects of the description clearly show that itwas actually south and not north. In Little Whitewater Canyon, w e collected A. danielsi dispar on a wooded, north-facing slope in igneous rock in talus, mosscoveredinplaces,containingdamp leaflitterininterstices among the stones.
Ashmunella rileyensis A. L. Metcalf and P. A. Hurley, 1971. The Nautilus,84:120, Figs. 1, 2, T.L.: from the talus at head of southwest draining ravine on the west side of MountRiley(northeast--seebelow),Doña Ana Co.,New
Mexico. (Mount Riley woodlandsnail)
Distribution and Habitat--Distributionally, Ashmunella rileyensishasoneofthemorerestrictedrangesofNew Mexico land snails. It is found only on two small mountains that are surroundedbytheLaMesaPlain,westoftheRioGrande Valley in southernmost N e w Mexico. O n U S G S topographic maps, the two mountains are designated, collectively, as "Mount Riley," but geologists at the University of Texas at El Paso, working in the area, have used the name "Mount Cox" to refer to the southwestern mountain, reserving the name "Mount Riley" for the northeastern one, which actually comprises two interconnected peaks. From western El Paso, Texas, these mountains appear as three low peaks on the western horizon. The Mount Riley complex isentirely of igneous, mainly rhyolitic rock.Ashmunella rileyensisisfound only inlong, linearmounds ofrhyolitictalusthatradiate downslope from the higher peaks of theMountRileycomplex. Onlyafewlivingspecimenswere found in this arid habitat (Metcalf and Hurley, 1971).
Ashmunella macromphala J. Vagvolgyi, 1974. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, 87:152,Pl. 1,Fig. 7,Fig. 5a, T.L.: Cooke (=Cooks) Peak, Luna Co., N e w Mexico. (Cook's Peak woodlandsnail)
Distribution and Habitat--Like A. rileyensis, just discussed, A. macromphala is a species of very restricted occurrence, having been found only on Cooke Peak--a salient, isolated, 8,400-ft peak south of the southern end of the Black Range and north of Deming, New Mexico. Vagvolgyi (1974:153) described the habitat where he collected the species asfollows:"We collectedthesnailsontheverysteepnorthern slope of the peak, at about 6,900-7,000 ft. of elevation, at the edge of2 huge rock slides,from under the rocks and the debris accumulated between them. Groups of oak bordered the rock slides, providing food and shelter for the snails."
In 1988 w e collected specimens in rock slides like those describedbyVagvolgyi.We alsocollectedafewfossilsofA. macromphala in sediments at the "ghost village" of Cook (or Cooke) at the northern base of Cooke Peak.
AshmunellawalkeriFerriss,1904.TheNautilus,18:53. T.L.:inrocktalusnearthemiddleofthewestsideofthe
Florida Mountains, Luna Co., New Mexico. (Florida Mountain woodlandsnail)
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