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Family: Gastrodontidae
Common name: Mountain Button
Discovery: Pilsbry, 1895
Identification
Width: 16-21 mm
Height: 8.5-10 mm
Whorls: 4.5-5
The shell of Mesomphix andrewsae is large and glossy with a thin and fragile lip and a disproportionately wide aperture (nearly the area of the rest of the shell in aperture view). The shell microsculpture lacks spiral rows of papillae (or with only weak traces of papillae). Its color is chestnut to olive above and buff below. Suture moderately impressed, last whorl about 2.5 times width of penultimate whorl. The umbilicus is narrow, about 1/20 of the shell diameter. Interior base of aperture may have a white callus near the lip edge. Similar to Mesomphix inornatus but that has a wider spire, slightly wider umbilicus, and has spiral rows of microscopic papillae.
Ecology
This species occurs in mixed hardwood forests in leaf litter or under logs on mountainsides.
Taxonomy
Synonyms for M. andrewsae include Omphalina andrewsae, Omphalina andrewsae montivaga.
Distribution
M. andrewsae is most abundant in the Smoky Mountains on the border between Tennessee and North Carolina, and it extends north into West Virginia, so it might be expected in south westernmost Virginia.
Conservation
NatureServe Global Rank: G3G4, Vulnerable to Apparently Secure
NatureServe State Rank: North Carolina: S3S4, Tennessee: S3S4
