Daedalochila auriculata (Say, 1818) Ocala Liptooth In Putnam County, Florida

Hoot Owl Road Northeast Of Satsuma

    During a field survey on 10/1/2007, Harry G. Lee discovered a single empty Daedalochila auriculata shell floating in a roadside drainage ditch on Hoot Owl Road near the intersection of US-17 and about 0.3 miles west southwest of the US-17 bridge over Dunns Creek. Harry revisited the site about two years later but was unable to find any additional specimens.

    On 3/8/2012 this reporter, accompanied by his spouse, visited the site (GPS: 29.34210N 081.38063W - WGS-84 Datum) to see if any Daedalochila auriculata could be found. After a minimal amount of searching, empty Daedalochila auriculata shells were found in numbers at the exact location where Harry found his specimen some five years earlier. Ultimately a total of 58 empty shells were collected but no live specimens could be found. During a return visit on 3/11/12 an additional three dozen empty shells were found but again no live specimens could be located despite the fact that empty shells were present on both sides of Hoot Owl Road, along a drainage ditch parallel to US-17, and near a small creek across US-17.

    Between 3/8 and 3/31/2012 two more thorough follow-up visits to the site also yielded numerous empty D. auriculata shells but no living specimens. Finally on 3/8/2014, exactly two years after this reporters initial visit to the site, a good number of live specimens were found in the same area that was diligently searched during the previous visits.

    Although this reporter has found empty D. auriculata shells at six different locations in Putnam County, the Hoot Owl Road site is only the second location where a live specimen/specimens have thus far been found. The only other location is on US-17 several miles north of Hoot Owl Road and involved a single live specimen (see: Daedalochila auriculata from Putnam County).

Site on Hoot Owl Road (looking toward US-17) where the empty Daedalochila auriculata shells were found on 3/8/2012