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 spectus can be distinguished from other western Victorian members of the A. sparsus group by its small, narrow, conical shell, and the only other closely similar species is A. fonscultus from south-eastern South Australia, although that species has a more conical shell.
Austropyrgus spectus Clark, Miller & Ponder, 2003
Class Gastropoda
Infraclass Caenogastropoda
Order Littorinida
Suborder Rissoidina
Superfamily Truncatelloidea
Family Tateidae
Genus Austropyrgus Cotton, 1942
Original name: Austropyrgus spectus 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: Small coastal springs at The Watering Place, 2 km from car park, Cape Duquesne, Victoria.
This species occurs in freshwater springs that emerge from the steep rocky shoreline. It is found crawling on all substrata present within the springs and is very abundant. The springs themselves are very small, only a few centimetres deep at the most and only a few meters long before they enter the sea. As the water from the springs becomes brackish by mixing with seawater, the estuarine tateid Ascorhis tasmanicus (Martens, 1858) can be found living with A. spectus in the slightly brackish areas.
Assumed to feed by scraping bacteria and microalgae. Lay solitary capsules containing a single egg. Direct development.
This species is known from a few quite small springs, all in close proximity to one another and located within a few meters of the Southern Ocean at Cape Duquesne, south of Portland, western Victoria.
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.
