The tetragonal to pentagonal shell shape, compressed thick, strong valves, and sculpture distinguish this species from others. It is distinguished from the P. etheridgei species group by greater shell pore density, and the posterior position of the outer demibranch (Korniushin, 2000). It reaches 4.2 mm in length.
Euglesa cara (Cotton, 1953)
Common name: Pea shell, pea clam, pill clam
Class Bivalvia
Infraclass Heteroconchia
Cohort Heterodonta
Megaorder Neoheterodontei
Order Sphaeriida
Superfamily Sphaerioidea
Family Sphaeriidae
Subfamily: Subfamily: Sphaeriinae
Genus Euglesa Jenyns, 1832 (Type species: Euglesa henslowiana Jenyns, 1832 (= Pisidium personatum Malm, 1855) (also sometimes cited as Tellina pusilla Gmelin, 1791)
Original name: Australpera cara Cotton, 1953. In Cotton, B. C. (1953). New species and records of Mollusca from South Australia. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia 76: 21 - 26.
Type locality: Brown Hill Creek, western slopes of the Mount Lofty Ranges, South Australia.
Brood pouch formed by five to eight filaments including up to six embryos. Inhabits streams and rivers - prefers sand and harder sediments. Suspension and deposit feeder.
Sporadic distribution from Queensland, through western slopes of New South Wales and Victoria and into South Australia.
Cotton, B. C. (1953). New species and records of Mollusca from South Australia. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia 76: 21-26.
Korniushin, A. V. (2000). Review of the family Sphaeriidae (Mollusca: Bivalvia) of Australia, with the description of four new species. Records of the Australian Museum 52: 41-102.
Kuiper, J. G. J. (1983). The Sphaeriidae of Australia. Basteria 47: 3-52.
Lamprell, K. & Healy, J. (1998). Bivalves of Australia, volume 2. Leiden, Backhuys Publishers.
Lee, T. (2019). Sphaeriidae Deshayes, 1855 (1820). Pp. 197-201 in C. Lydeard & Cummings, K. S. Freshwater Mollusks of the World: a Distribution Atlas. Baltimore, John Hopkins University Press.
Lee, T. & Ó Foighil, D. (2003). Phylogenetic structure of the Sphaeriinae, a global clade of freshwater bivalve molluscs, inferred from nuclear (ITS-1) and mitochondrial (16S) ribosomal gene sequences. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 137: 245-260.
Smith, B. J. (1992). Non-marine Mollusca. Pp. i-xii, 1-408 in W. W. K. Houston. Zoological Catalogue of Australia, 8. Canberra, Australian Government Publishing Service.
