This species is distinguished from the similar and co-occurring Caldicochlea harrisi by its small, conical shell and more evenly conical spire outline. A. centralia also differs from both species of Caldicochlea in its prominent opercular pegs, multiple (not two) basal denticles on the central teeth, as well as considerable differences in the female genital system and penial morphology.
Austropyrgus centralia (Ponder, Colgan, Terzis, Clark & Miller, 1996)
Class Gastropoda
Infraclass Caenogastropoda
Order Littorinida
Suborder Rissoidina
Superfamily Truncatelloidea
Family Tateidae
Genus Austropyrgus Cotton, 1942
Original name: Fluvidona centralia Ponder, Colgan, Terzis, Clark & Miller, 1996. In Ponder, W. F., Colgan, D. J, Terzis, T., Clark, S. A and Miller, A. C. (1996). Three new morphologically and genetically determined species of hydrobiid gastropods from Dalhousie Springs, northern South Australia, with the description of a new genus. Molluscan Research 17: 49–106.
Type locality: Spring Cd11, Dalhousie Springs, South Australia.
Found in a few small (cold) isolated seeps and in shallow lower cold outflows distant from the warm to hot water sources of large springs.
Dalhousie Springs, northern South Australia.
This is one of two species of Austropyrgus occurring far outside the range of the majority of species, being found in Dalhousie Springs in the far north of South Australia, while the other (A. bunyaensis) is found in southern Queensland.
Most species of Austropyrgus are geographically isolated and have restricted ranges, and this one is no exception.
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.
Colgan, D. J. & Ponder, W. F. (2000). Incipient speciation in aquatic snails in an arid-zone spring complex. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 71: 625-641.
Perez, K. E., Ponder, W. F., Colgan, D. J., Clark, S. A. & Lydeard, C. (2005). Molecular phylogeny and biogeography of spring-associated hydrobiid snails of the Great Artesian Basin, Australia. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 34: 545-556.
Ponder, W. F., Colgan, D. J., Terzis, T., Clark, S. A. & Miller, A. C. (1996). Three new morphologically and genetically determined species of hydrobiid gastropods from Dalhousie Springs, northern South Australia, with the description of a new genus. Molluscan Research 17: 49-109.
