DNA barcoding data for springsnails

In desert environments, unique communities depend on groundwater at springs. There is a diverse radiation of small (<5 mm) snails found across the desert southwest in North America. Nearly all springsnail species are considered critically imperiled with their existence depending on maintenance of spring-flows in regions of declining water availability. Extant, endemic, springsnails in the Trans-Pecos region of Texas include one species of Pseudotryonia Hershler, 2001, five nominal Tryonia W. Stimpson, 1865 (Cochliopidae) and seven Pyrgulopsis Call & Pilsbry, 1886 (Hydrobiidae). Four of these snails are classified as endangered under the US Endangered Species Act. Survey work was conducted at the type and previously reported localities of named springsnails and 116 previously unsampled spring sites to locate and identify additional populations. Sequences of the DNA barcoding region were used to establish a database of known sequences from the named species and confirm identifications of new populations encountered.