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 dyerianus differs from the other species of this group in the following combination of characters: shell small, spire outline straight, whorls convex; pigmentation present on only medial section of penis; seminal receptacle at anterior edge of bursa copulatrix; anterior end of capsule gland tapering.
Austropyrgus dyerianus (Petterd, 1879)
Class Gastropoda
Infraclass Caenogastropoda
Order Littorinida
Suborder Rissoidina
Superfamily Truncatelloidea
Family Tateidae
Genus Austropyrgus Cotton, 1942
Original name: Bithynia dyeriana Petterd, 1879. In Petterd, W. F. (1879). List of the freshwater shells of Tasmania. Journal of Conchology 2: 81–88.
Type locality: Stream flowing into Long Bay, Tasman Peninsula, Tasmania.
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 species is currently known from a few small streams on the Tasman Peninsula, south-eastern Tasmania.
Most species of Austropyrgus are geographically isolated and have restricted ranges, and this one has a rather small range.
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.
