The Bruneau hot springsnail, scientific name Pyrgulopsis bruneauensis, is a species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 of very small freshwater

Freshwater

Fresh water is naturally occurring water on the Earth's surface in ice sheets, ice caps, glaciers, bogs, ponds, lakes, rivers and streams, and underground as groundwater in aquifers and underground streams. Fresh water is generally characterized by having low concentrations of dissolved salts and...

 snail

Snail

Snail is a common name applied to most of the members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have coiled shells in the adult stage. When the word is used in its most general sense, it includes sea snails, land snails and freshwater snails. The word snail without any qualifier is however more often...

 that has a gill

Gill

A gill is a respiratory organ found in many aquatic organisms that extracts dissolved oxygen from water, afterward excreting carbon dioxide. The gills of some species such as hermit crabs have adapted to allow respiration on land provided they are kept moist...

 and an operculum

Operculum (gastropod)

The operculum, meaning little lid, is a corneous or calcareous anatomical structure which exists in many groups of sea snails and freshwater snails, and also in a few groups of land snails...

, an aquatic

Aquatic animal

An aquatic animal is an animal, either vertebrate or invertebrate, which lives in water for most or all of its life. It may breathe air or extract its oxygen from that dissolved in water through specialised organs called gills, or directly through its skin. Natural environments and the animals that...

 gastropod mollusk in the family Hydrobiidae

Hydrobiidae

Hydrobiidae, common name mud snails, is a large cosmopolitan taxonomic family of very small freshwater snails and brackish water snails that have an operculum, aquatic gastropod mollusks in the clade Littorinimorpha.- Distribution :...

. This species is endemic to the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Its natural habitat

Habitat

* Habitat , a place where a species lives and grows*Human habitat, a place where humans live, work or play** Space habitat, a space station intended as a permanent settlement...

 is thermal springs. It is threatened by habitat loss.

Distribution

It is only found in geothermal springs and seeps along an 8-kilometer length of the Bruneau River

Bruneau River

The Bruneau River is a tributary of the Snake River, in the U.S. states of Idaho and Nevada. It runs through a narrow canyon cut into ancient lava flows in southwestern Idaho...

 in Southwest Idaho

Idaho

Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....

.

Habitat

It prefers wetted rock faces of springs and flowing water, with large cobbles and boulders. The principal threat to the Bruneau hot springsnail is the reduction and/or elimination of its geothermal

Geothermal

Geothermal is related to energy and may refer to:* The geothermal gradient and associated heat flows from within the Earth- Renewable technology :...

 habitats as a result of groundwater withdrawal, primarily for agriculture. Spring temperatures are the predominant factor that determines the springsnail's distribution and abundance; the springsnail requires constant springwater temperatures to survive.

Conservation

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's 5-year Review for the Bruneau hot springsnail in 2007 concluded that the original listing classification as endangered remains unchanged. The threats that were present at the time of the springsnail's listing remain today. In particular, groundwater levels are not stable or increasing and there is a decline in the number of geothermal springs occupied by the springsnail. Bruneau hot springsnail populations show declining trends, and connectivity between the remaining colonies has been reduced. Current conservation measures are falling short of addressing the highest-ranking threats to the species. Despite previous conservation efforts, threats to the Bruneau hot springsnail persist and it is in danger of extinction. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is working with the State of Idaho and other partners in conservation, including private landowners, toward the shared goal of reducing threats and ultimately recovering this species so that it no longer needs protection under the ESA. Conservation actions include efforts to increase and stabilize geothermal water levels. These actions might include: voluntary conservation easements (lease/purchase water rights), irrigation system improvements to reduce agricultural water use, continued monitoring of water levels and snail distribution, control of non-native fish known to prey upon the springsnail, and establishment of regulatory measures that are adequate to permanently protect the springsnail from future groundwater reductions.