Very variable in shell shape - almost identical to P. carum; however, P. ponderi has a rounder convex shell and narrower hinge plate. Shell sculpture is - according to Korniushin - another constant and reliable diagnostic character in distinguishing this from other species. It reaches 3.5 mm in length.
Euglesa ponderi (Korniushin, 2000)
Common name: Pea shell, pea clam, pill clam
Class Bivalvia
Infraclass Heteroconchia
Cohort Heterodonta
Megaorder Neoheterodontei
Order Sphaeriida
Superfamily Sphaerioidea
Family Sphaeriidae
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: Pisidium (Euglesa) ponderi Korniushin, 2000. In 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.
Type locality: Norfolk Falls, Warung State Forest, New South Wales.
Brood pouch formed by five to six filaments with four to six embryos. Found in small creeks and swamps often in association with P. etheridgei and P. hallae (Korniushin, 2000). Suspension and deposit feeder.
Eastern New South Wales.
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.
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.
