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 species from north central Tasmania (excluding B. lodderae) in radula having U-shaped median cusp on central teeth.
Beddomeia hermansi Ponder & Clark, 1993
Common name: Viking Creek snail
Class Gastropoda
Infraclass Caenogastropoda
Order Littorinida
Suborder Rissoidina
Superfamily Truncatelloidea
Family Beddomeiidae
Original name: Beddomeia hermansi 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: Top end of Viking Creek, tributary of Wilmot River, Tasmania (41°16'23"S 146°11'17"E).
On leaves and pieces of small wood 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.
Top end of Viking Creek, tributary of Wilmot River, Tasmania. Recently translocated to a nearby large stream (Richards & Hawkins, 2015).
All species of Beddomeia are geographically isolated and have restricted ranges.
This species is on the Tasmanian Threatened Species Protection Act 1995 as Endangered. Translocation has been undertaken to two sites within two kilometers of the known locality, with one of these being successful (Richards, 2023).
This species has also had a rare honour - Joel Roberts composed "Spirals: expansion/ contraction"– a score for Brass Quintet, dedicated to the Viking Creek freshwater snail (Richards, 2023).
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.
Richards, K. (2023). Beddomeia hermansi Ponder & Clark, 1993 (Mollusca: Tateidae) - reviewing a translocation to save a species. The Tasmanian Naturalist 145: 53-60.
Richards, K. & Hawkins, C. (2015). Beddomeia hermansi translocation project - Establishment report. Unpublished report to the Threatened Species Section, Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment, Hobart.
