Distribution
Leptoxis compacta is restricted to a single location in the Cahaba River, where it was rediscovered in 2011. It lives in an unnamed shoal upstream of the Cahaba River and Shades Creek confluence in Shelby County, Alabama (33.1786°N, 87.0174°W).
Historically, Leptoxis compacta was most abundant in the central section of the Cahaba River at Lily Shoals in Bibb County, Alabama. The historical range of Leptoxis compacta extended from Centerville, Bibb County, upriver and into lower Buck Creek in the Valley and Ridge physiogeographic province of the southern Appalachian Mountains.
Specific reasons for the species decline of Leptoxis compacta' have not been determined, but it is known that the species was declining in abundance and range by 1935, and it is suggested that factors contributing to the decline included its naturally small range and pollutant loadings to streams from mines and from the Birmingham, Alabama metropolitan area.
This species was the only pleurocerid endemic to the Cahaba River that was considered extinct, and had not been found in surveys of the river conducted in 1992, 2005, and 2008.
This snail is highly susceptible to a single catastrophic extinction event. As such, the species deserves immediate conservation attention. Artificial propagation and reintroduction of Leptoxis compacta into its native range may be a viable recovery strategy to prevent extinction from a single perturbation event.
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