This species belongs to the Austropyrgus petterdianus group, whose members are characterised by the following shell features: aperture slightly disjunct, with last whorl and base evenly convex; outer lip without reflection; shell colour yellow-brown and translucent.
A. privus differs from other members of the group in the following combination of characters: shell small, with very elongated spire and straight to weakly-convex spire outline, inner lip firmly adhering to the parietal wall, outer lip heavily thickened; pallial vas deferens strongly undulating at prostate gland; penis attached centrally on head.
Austropyrgus privus Clark, Miller & Ponder, 2003
Class Gastropoda
Infraclass Caenogastropoda
Order Littorinida
Suborder Rissoidina
Superfamily Truncatelloidea
Family Tateidae
Genus Austropyrgus Cotton, 1942
Original name: Austropyrgus privus Clark, Miller & Ponder, 2003. In 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 Supplement 28: 1–109.
Type locality: Keddies Creek at Dial Road, south of Penguin, 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 only known from a small stream south of Penguin in northern Tasmania.
Most species of Austropyrgus are geographically isolated and have restricted ranges, and this one is no exception.
This species is not found in sympatry with any other species of Austropyrgus.
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.
