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.
The differences in shell morphology between the very similar taxa B. lodderae, B. waterhouseae and B. forthensis, show no significant differences in shell characters, however there are some subtle differences. B. waterhouseae has a slightly thinner shell with the outer lip evenly curved into the suture, whereas in B. lodderae, it is slightly shouldered at the suture. In addition, the umbilicus is very narrowly open and the chink more distinct in B. waterhouseae and the inner lip is thinner and narrower. B. forthensis is smaller, thinner and has fewer whorls.
Beddomeia waterhouseae Ponder & Clark, 1993
Class Gastropoda
Infraclass Caenogastropoda
Order Littorinida
Suborder Rissoidina
Superfamily Truncatelloidea
Family Beddomeiidae
Original name: Beddomeia waterhouseae 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: Small tributary of Little Claytons Rivulet, Tasmania.
On leaves and 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.
Small tributary of Little Claytons Rivulet, Tasmania.
All species of Beddomeia are geographically isolated and have restricted ranges.
This species is on the Tasmanian Threatened Species Protection Act 1995 as Rare (small population at risk).
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.
