Beddomeia hallae Ponder & Clark, 1993

Diagnostic features

Species of the B. hullii group are found in the northern half of Tasmania. Their shells are small (1.7-3.7 mm in length; most less than 3.5 mm), simple, ovate-conic to broadly conic, with a thin inner lip and no columellar bulge. The periphery of the last whorl of the shell is rounded, subangled or angled and the penis simple.

Differs from other Beddomeia from north central Tasmania (except B. waterhouseae) in the shell having a protoconch of two smooth whorls and (excluding B. lodderae) thicker inner lip.

Classification

Beddomeia hallae Ponder & Clark, 1993

Class Gastropoda

Infraclass Caenogastropoda

Order Littorinida

Suborder Rissoidina

Superfamily Truncatelloidea

Family Beddomeiidae

Genus Beddomeia Petterd, 1889

Original name: Beddomeia hallae Ponder & Clark, 1993. In Ponder, W. F., Clark, G. A., Miller, A. & Toluzzi, A. 1993. On a major radiation of freshwater snails in Tasmania and eastern Victoria - a preliminary overview of the Beddomeia group (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Hydrobiidae). Invertebrate Taxonomy 7: 501-750.

Type locality: Buttons Rivulet on South Preston Road, northern Tasmania (41°21'08" S, 146°02'46" E).

Biology and ecology

In weed and under stones in stream.Egg capsules presumably like those of other species of Beddomeia - dome-shaped, with broad attachment base, covered with minute, mainly white sand grains and other fragments and containing a single egg. Development direct.

Distribution

Buttons Rivulet, on South Preston Road, northern Tasmania.

Notes

All species of Beddomeia are geographically isolated and have restricted ranges.

This species is on the Tasmanian Threatened Species Protection Act 1995 as Endangered.

Further reading

Ponder, W. F., Clark, G. A., Miller, A. C. & Toluzzi, A. (1993). On a major radiation of freshwater snails in Tasmania and eastern Victoria: a preliminary overview of the Beddomeia group (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Hydrobiidae). Invertebrate Taxonomy 7: 501-750.