This species is usually decollate when adult, fusiform, with impressed sutures and convex whorls, smooth except for growth lines and fine concentric striae, dull, aperture reddish brown within.
Coxiella striata (Reeve, 1842)
Class Gastropoda
Infraclass Caenogastropoda
Order Littorinida
Suborder Rissoidina
Superfamily Truncatelloidea
Family Tomichiidae
Genus Coxiella E. A. Smith,1894
Original name: Truncatella striata Reeve,1842. In Reeve, L.A. 1842, Conchologia Systematica or Complete System of Conchology: in which the Lepades and Conchiferous Mollusca are described and classified according to their natural organisation and habits. London: Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans Vol.2, 337pp.
Type locality: Mitre Lake, Victoria.
Synonyms: Truncatella filosa Mitchell, 1838 (nom. nud.); Pomatiopsis badgerensis Johnston, 1879; Coxiella confusa Smith, 1898.
Lawrie et al. (2023) have undertaken an assessment of this group and recognised four clades within what was previously treated as a single genus, Coxiella. They did not formally name the clades or provide names for some new species in that paper but will do so in a forthcoming publication. Hence, in the meantime, we follow Macpherson (1957) who provided the previous taxonomic treatment of this group.
Inhabits salt lakes and coastal salt marshes. Empty shells often form pink tidelines around lake shores.
The snout is long and the eyes have a cluster of glands above them. Coxiella are dioecious and development is direct; females are oviparous, depositing eggs singly in capsules coated in sand or mud. Coxiella probably feed on organic detritus and they are amphibious.
From southeast South Australia to southern Victoria, and including northern and eastern Tasmania. The species has also been recognised from fossil deposits in New South Wales, and it may also occur in south-western New South Wales.
For species description see Macpherson (1957).
Previously included in Pomatiopsidae, recent molecular studies have shown that this genus, together with two other genera, one from South America and the other from Africa, should be separated as a distinct family.
Beesley, P. L., Ross, G. J. B. & Wells, A., Eds. (1998). Mollusca: The Southern Synthesis. Parts A & B. Melbourne, CSIRO Publishing.
Davis, G. M. (1979). The origin and evolution of the gastropod family Pomatiopsidae, with emphasis on the Mekong River Triculinae. Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia Monographs 20: 1-120.
Iredale, T. (1943). A basic list of the fresh water Mollusca of Australia. Australian Zoologist 10: 188-230.
Lawrie, A. D. A., Chaplin, J., Kirkendale, L., Whisson, C., Pinder, A., & Mlambo, M. C. (2023). Phylogenetic assessment of the halophilic Australian gastropod Coxiella and South African Tomichia resolves taxonomic uncertainties, uncovers new species and supports a Gondwanan link. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 184: 107810.
Macpherson, J. H. (1957). A review of the genus Coxiella Smith, 1894, sensu lato. Western Australian Naturalist 5: 191-204.
Smith, B. J. & Kershaw, R. C. (1979). Field guide to the non-marine Molluscs of South-eastern Australia. Canberra, A.N.U. Press.
Smith, B. J. & Kershaw, R. C. (1981). Tasmanian Land and Freshwater Molluscs. Hobart, University of Tasmania.
Williams, W. D. & Mellor, M. W. (1991). Ecology of Coxiella (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Prosobranchia), a snail endemic to Australian salt lakes. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 84: 339-355.
