Magazine Mountain Shagreen
An entire snail species occupies scattered cool talus pockets on one Arkansas mountain, making shade, leaf litter, crevices, and undisturbed stone more important than the chance of seeing a shell.
Artwork inspired by John Bell Jr.
Magazine Mountain Shagreen is known only from talus habitat on the north and west slopes of Mount Magazine. It shelters in deep rock crevices where forest canopy, woody debris, and leaf litter retain cool humid conditions. Surface activity is limited, and a small brown textured shell cannot be identified confidently from color alone.
The snail was federally listed as threatened in 1989 but removed from the list in 2013 after habitat protection and threat reduction; the old status should not be repeated. Delisting did not enlarge its approximately 22-acre known world range. Visitors protect that recovery by staying on trail and never turning rocks, raking litter, collecting shells, or disclosing a colony.
- Entire range
- About 22 acres of talus on Mount Magazine
- Federal history
- Listed in 1989; delisted following recovery in 2013
- Microclimate
- Cool shaded rock crevices with stable moisture and intact litter
Quick guide
- Learn habitat without searching it
- Read slope aspect, canopy, talus depth, litter, and moisture from the trail
- Document only chance encounters
- Photograph in place and let park or wildlife specialists confirm
Understand the shagreen’s recovery without entering its refuge
- Read Mount Magazine at snail scale
- From an established Mount Magazine State Park or Ozark–St.
- Leave every talus shelter assembled
- Do not turn a stone, roll a log, peel bark, rake leaves, or probe a crevice in the approximately 22-acre known habitat.
- Document only an incidental trail sighting
- If a snail is already visible on the trail surface, photograph the entire shell and fine texture beside a noncontact scale reference.
- Separate 2013 status from present vulnerability
- Send the image privately to Arkansas park or wildlife staff for specialist review.
Good to know
The 2013 federal delisting recognized recovery through durable habitat management on Mount Magazine, not a newly expanded range. Every known wild population remains within a few Arkansas talus complexes on the same mountain.
Notice these
- Small textured brown shell
- Deep shaded talus crevices
- North- and west-slope refuge
- Single-mountain distribution