Daedalochila auriculata On CR-13 - Bass Haven Lane Station One (12/26/2009)

    This location, discovered on 12/23/2009, is on the north side of the road 0.1 miles west of Bass Haven Lane (GPS: 29.55332N 081.35112W - WGS-84 Datum). It encompasses the roadside swale adjacent to a permanent source of water (St. Johns River). The view below is looking west. During a follow-up visit to the area by this reporter on 12/30/2009, four empty Daedalochila auriculata shells were discovered a second location on the north side of the road about 0.10 miles further west. Further surveys of the site during September, 2010 confirmed that a large number of empty D. auriculata shells are present in the County Road 13 roadside swale for a total distance of about 0.25 miles [from just west of Adams Road on the east to just inside the town limits of Picolata to the southwest]. No live specimens were found during the September, 2010 surveys. However, some of the empty shells were extremely large for the species, and one of which that measured 17.7 mm. (see image). A follow-up survey of the same location was conducted on 11/2/2011 and an even larger specimen, conservatively measuring  17.8 mm., was found (see image). Since the site was initially discovered in 2009, a large number of empty Daedalochila auriculata shells have been found but less than half-a-dozen live specimens. This along with the sites immediate proximity to the eastern shore of the St. Johns River suggests that a majority of the empty shells present were washed there by the river and never actually lived there. This theory is bolstered by the presence of a wide variety of waterborne debris in the same area to include fishing tackle as well as the empty shells of Pomacea paludosa (Say, 1821) [Florida Apple Snail] which are not normally found in the river in this area because of the salinity.

The live specimen above measures 16 mm. and was collected on 10/5/2010.