This species is readily distinguished from other neritimorphs occurring in northern Australia by its rather elongate shape, distinct but variable transverse ribblets and greyish-white, finely granular ventral shell and operculum. Dorsally the shell is dark grey with the ribs sometimes darker.
Neripteron transversecostatum (Schepman, 1919)
Class Gastropoda
Infraclass Neritimorpha
Order Neritopsida
Suborder Neritina
Superfamily Neritoidea
Family Neritidae
Subfamily Neritininae
Genus Neripteron Lesson, 1831 (Type species Neritina auriculata Lamarck, 1816).
Original name: Neritina transversecostata Schepman, 1919. In Schepman, M. M. (1919). On a collection of land- and freshwater Mollusca and a few marine Mollusca chiefly collected by Dr H. A. Lorentz from New Guinea, the Aru Islands, Timor and Borneo. Nova Guinea 13: 155-196 + plates IV - VIII.
Type locality: Lorentz River, New Guinea (i.e., SW Papua) and Creek near Bivak Island (in the Lorentz River) [now Unir or Indir River].
Like Neritilia vulgaris and Coleglabra kessneri this species is probably confined to a tidal area of the Daly River that remains largely freshwater. It is found attached to fallen logs, sticks and logs (fide V. Kessner). As with other neritids, egg capsules are small, oval and white.
Known only from one river in the Northern Territory (Fukumori & Kano 2014) and the type locality in Papua (Schepman, 1919). Here we confirm that several collections have been made in the Daly River, NT, near around the tributaries Bamboo Creek and Browns Creek (pers. comm. to WP from V. Kessner and R. Willan in lit. May 2020).
Cabat, A. R. & Finet, Y. (1992). Catalogue of the Neritidae (Mollusca: Gastropoda) described by Constant A. Recluz including the location of the type specimens. Revue suisse de Zoologie 99: 223-253.
Eichhorst, T. E. (2016). Neritidae of the World. Volumes 1 & 2. ConchBooks, Harxheim.
Fukumori, H. & Kano, Y. (2014). Evolutionary ecology of settlement size in planktotrophic neritimorph gastropods. Marine Biology 161: 213-227.
Schepman, M. M. (1919). On a collection of land- and freshwater Mollusca and a few marine Mollusca chiefly collected by Dr H. A. Lorentz from New Guinea, the Aru Islands, Timor and Borneo. Nova Guinea 13: 155-196 + plates IV - VIII.
Willan, E. C. & Kessner, V. (2021). A conspectus of the freshwater molluscs of the Daly River catchment, Northern Territory. Northern Territory Naturalist 30: 108-137.
