Species of the B. launcestonensis group are of medium size for the genus (2.0-4.2 mm in length), and rather globular. Their penis is simple. Found in the mid north and north-eastern parts of Tasmania.
This species differs from other members of this group in possessing fewer ctenidial filaments (16-18) in the mantle cavity.
Beddomeia wilmotensis Ponder & Clark, 1993
Class Gastropoda
Infraclass Caenogastropoda
Order Littorinida
Suborder Rissoidina
Superfamily Truncatelloidea
Family Beddomeiidae
Original name: Beddomeia wilmotensis Ponder & Clark, 1993. In 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.
Type locality: North of Spellmans Bridge on the western side of the Wilmot River, northern Tasmania.
This species was found living under deeply embedded stones in a small, damp seepage protected by blackberries and ferns. It lacks body and eye pigment, probably a response to its semi-troglobitic existence. 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.
This species is known from the catchment of the Wilmot River in 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.
