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<br />I. INTRODUCTION <br /> <br />~ <br /> <br />The Kanab ambersnail. Oxvloma havdeni kanabensis Pilsbry. was listed as an <br />endangered species under the authority of the Endangered Species Act (Act). as <br />amended. on April 17, 1992 (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 1992). Critical <br />habitat was proposed for the species' larger Utah population in the proposed <br />rule published on November 15. 1991 (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 1991) <br />(Figure 1). The recovery priority of this species is 3C (a subspecies with a <br />high degree of threat and high recovery potential with a possibility of <br />conflict with human activities). <br /> <br />Specimens of the Kanab ambersnail were first collected in 1909 by James <br />Ferriss from: "'The Greens'. 6 miles above Kanab, on Kanab Wash. on a wet <br />ledge among moss and cypripediums" (Ferriss 1910. Pilsbry 1948). These <br />specimens were originally placed in the species Succinea hawkinsi (Ferriss <br />1910. Chamberlin and Jones 1929). Henry Pilsbry (1948) transferred these <br />specimens to the genus Oxvloma and erected the subspecies kanabensis in the <br />species havdeni for them. Arthur Clarke (1991) notes that Pilsbry's decision <br />to accord the Kanab ambersnail subspecific status was preliminary. and that. <br />as Pilsbry himself noted. its taxonomic status should be reevaluated. Clarke <br />(1991) and S.K. Wu (Colorado Museum of Natural History. Boulder. pers. comm. <br />1992) suggest that the Kanab ambersnail may deserve full species status. <br /> <br />The location of the Kanab ambersnail's Utah populations have been known since <br />their discovery by Ferriss in 1909 (Ferriss 1909. label information on type <br />specimen. Philadelphia Academy of Sciences: Chamberlin and Jones 1929: Pilsbry <br /> <br />1 <br />