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Photo by Wayne A. Herbel
Photo Copyright Wayne A. Herbel; Utah Division of Wildlife Resources
Desert valvata
Valvata utahensis
NatureServe conservation status
Global (G-rank): G2
State (S-rank): SX
External links
Species range
This species was found historically in Utah Lake, seemingly living in 1883 (see Call 1884). All other Utah localities for the species are based either on prehistoric (i.e., fossil or subfossil) material or on misidentifications. For example, as recently as 1971 Russell (1971) reported living examples of this species from Fish Springs in Juab County, but this record proved to be a misidentification of VALVATA HUMERALIS (Taylor 1986).
Habitat
In Utah, this species occurred historically in Utah Lake, a large, shallow, slightly alkaline, freshwater lake. Fossil material shows that it occurred prehistorically in Utah in other lakes (e.g., Bear Lake) and perhaps rivers (e.g., the Bear River).
Threats or limiting factors
Various anthropogenic alterations of the aquatic environment may have extirpated this and other species (i.e., virtually all mollusks and several fishes) formerly found in Utah Lake, which, though originally a natural lake, has long been managed as a reservoir. Causes of the extinctions and extirpations of the formerly diverse molluscan fauna of Utah Lake are much more puzzling than those that led to the demise of the lake's ichthyofauna and probably will never be understood.
