Extinction of most Sandia and Potosí valleys (Nuevo León, Mexico) endemic pupfishes, crayfishes and snails

" Exploration of the arid SW Nuevo León, Mexico has revealed the extinction of a number of recently described and undescribed species of pupfishes, crayfishes and snails from isolated springs, as follows: Charco Palma: Cyprinodon longidorsalis, discovered 1984, extinct, 1994. La Trinidad: C. inmemoriam and crayfish, discovered 1984, extinct 1986. Charco Azul: C. veronicae and crayfish, discovered 1984, barely surviving in 1994; the snails Valvata beltrani and Valvata sp. were extinct when discovered. La Presa: C. ceciliae and crayfish, discovered 1988, extinct 1990. Potosi: Megupsilon aporus and Cyprinodon alvarezi discovered between 1948 and 1961, almost extinct 1994. Extinction has resulted quickly from depleted aquifers and drying of springs for agricultural needs, irrational, not sustainable, and illegal. It is becoming a general situation in northern Mexico, where it is combined with water overexploitation for industrial and drinking needs; it is also related to the extinction of 11 other fish species. This happened in spite of federal legislation: poor enforcement causes concern for the fate of protected areas, such as Cuatro Cienegas, and in general of Mexican biodiversity. Conservation of this biodiversity, and the agriculture, needs regional management of the geohydrological basins "