This species belongs to the Austropyrgus sparsus group, with members 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 ronkershawi differs from other members of the group in the following combination of characters: shell small to medium in size, spire elongate to average length, outline straight and whorls convex; pallial vas deferens S-shaped at prostate gland.
This species is found in sympatry with at least three other species of Austropyrgus (A. gunnii, A. lochi and A. diemensis) throughout its currently recognised range. It differs from A. gunnii in its smaller, narrower shell with less rounded whorls, from A. lochi in its larger, broader shell with a shorter spire, and from A. diemensis in its narrower shell with less rounded whorls.
Austropyrgus ronkershawi Clark, Miller & Ponder, 2003
Class Gastropoda
Infraclass Caenogastropoda
Order Littorinida
Suborder Rissoidina
Superfamily Truncatelloidea
Family Tateidae
Genus Austropyrgus Cotton, 1942
Original name: Austropyrgus ronkershawi 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: Black Sugarloaf Creek at Bensemanns Road, west of Birralee, 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 known from a number of small streams and rivers of central northern Tasmania.
Although most species of Austropyrgus are geographically isolated and have restricted ranges, a few such as A. ronkershawi have somewhat 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.
