This species belongs to the Austropyrgus sparsus group, whose members are characterised by the following shell features: small to medium-sized shells, conical, with convex to slightly convex whorls. In females, the coiled oviduct is of an inverted U-shape or with two or more bends, loops or twists.
Austropyrgus angasi differs from the other species of this group in the following characters: shell small to medium size, with squat spire and straight spire outline and convex whorls; penis with pigmentation absent or on all areas except base; coiled oviduct with proximal part inverted U-shaped.
Austropyrgus angasi (E. A. Smith, 1882)
Class Gastropoda
Infraclass Caenogastropoda
Order Littorinida
Suborder Rissoidina
Superfamily Truncatelloidea
Family Tateidae
Genus Austropyrgus Cotton, 1942
Original name: Hydrobia angasi E. A. Smith, 1882. In Smith, E.A. (1882). On the freshwater shells of Australia. Journal of the Linnean Society of London, Zoology 16: 255–316.
Type locality: Campaspe (as Campasely) River, Victoria.
Synonym: Hydrobia angasi Smith, 1882.
In streams on water weeds, hard substrata (rocks etc.) and crawling on litter and sediment. Can be locally abundant. Assumed to feed by scraping bacteria and microalgae. Lay solitary capsules containing a single egg. Direct development.
This is a widespread species found in central Victoria.
Although most species of Austropyrgus are geographically isolated and have restricted ranges, a few - such as A. angasi - have wider ranges.
Clark, S. A., Miller, A. C. & Ponder, W. F. (2003). Revision of the snail genus Austropyrgus (Gastropoda: Hydrobiidae): a morphostatic radiation of freshwater gastropods in southeastern Australia. Records of the Australian Museum 28: 1–109.
Sardiña, P., Beringer, J., Roche, D. & Thompson, R. M. (2015). Temperature influences species interactions between a native and a globally invasive freshwater snail. Freshwater Science 34: 933-941.
