Sponsor
Portland State University
Document Type
Report
Publication Date
7-30-2026
Subjects
Fluminicola -- Classification, Fluminicola
Abstract
The Donner und Blitzen pebblesnail (Fluminicola insolitus) is a critically imperiled (G1/S1) freshwater snail historically known from a single spring, Page Springs, in the Donner und Blitzen River drainage of Harney County, Oregon. The species was petitioned for listing under the U.S. Endangered Species Act in February 2024. On January 26, 2026, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service published a positive 90-day finding initiating species status review (USFWS 2026).
In August 2025, the Oregon Biodiversity Information Center (ORBIC) at Portland State University, in coordination with the Nevada Division of Natural Heritage (NDNH), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), conducted systematic surveys for F. insolitus and other rare springsnail species across parts of southeast Oregon. The primary objective was to determine whether F. insolitus occurs at additional springs within and beyond the Donner und Blitzen drainage. Secondary objectives addressed two additional petitioned springsnails of the Owyhee River drainage: the Owyhee hot springsnail (Pyrgulopsis fresti) and the Owyhee upland pyrg (Pyrgulopsis owyheensis).
Surveys were conducted at 37 spring sources and accompanying outflows from 8–15 August 2025. Voucher specimens were collected from 8 springs across 4 spring complexes and submitted to the National Genomics Center for Wildlife and Fish Conservation (Missoula, MT) for COI barcoding.
Rights
This work is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/45051
Citation Details
Laney, J.A. 2026. Surveys for rare springsnails in southeast Oregon, 2025, with a focus on the Donner und Blitzen pebblesnail (Fluminicola insolitus). Oregon Biodiversity Information Center, Institute for Natural Resources, Portland State University, Portland, Oregon.
Appendix of data tables