This species, once common in the Murray River, appears to be extinct in that river and in the Murrumbidgee River, although it survives in a few irrigation pipelines (Sheldon and Walker, 1993a). It differs from the similar N. sublineata in its larger, heavier shell, thicker, dark brown periostracum, and (usually) distinct but narrow shoulder below the suture of the last whorl. The head-foot is dark grey with yellow spots in N. hanleyi, but is unpigmented or very pale grey with yellow spots in N. sublineata.
Notopala hanleyi (Frauenfeld, 1864)
Common name: Hanley's river snail.
Class Gastropoda
Infraclass Caenogastropoda
Informal group Architaenioglossa
Order Viviparida
Superfamily Viviparioidea
Family Viviparidae
Subfamily: Bellamyinae
Original name: Paludina hanleyi Frauenfeld, 1864. In Frauenfeld, G. R. von. (1864). Verzeichniss der Namen der fossilen und lebenden Arten der Gattung Paludina Lam. Nebst. Jenen der nachststenheden und einrechung derselben in der verscheiden neneren Gattungen. Verhandlungen der kaiserlich-königlichen Zoologisch-Botanischen Gesellschaft Wien 12(2): 14: 561-672 (new namefor Paludina intermedia Reeve, 1863).
Type locality: ‘Australia’ (= River Murray, Australia).
Synonyms: Paludina intermedia Reeve, 1863 (preoccupied); Paludina (Vivipara) purpurea Martens, 1865.
The taxonomy used here for Viviparidae is largely based on unpublished research by W. Ponder. Several undescribed taxa are known that mainly occur in areas outside the distribution of the species recognised here.
Previously lived on muddy sides and bottom of river, often attached to wood and rocks. While once common it is now extinct except in a few irrigation pipes. Although the biology of this subspecies has not been studied, its anatomy shows that it is in part at least a suspension feeder, using the gill for filtering food from the water like other viviparids, and that it broods its eggs in the pallial oviduct.
Murray River and its tributary, the Murrumbidgee River; New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia.
This species is listed as endangered in New South Wales. It has sometimes been treated as a subspecies of N. sublineata.
Cotton, B. C. (1935a). The Australian viviparous river snails. Victorian Naturalist 52: 96-99.
Cotton, B. C. (1935b). Recent Australian Viviparidae and a fossil species. Records of the South Australian Museum 5: 339-344.
Iredale, T. (1943). A basic list of the fresh water Mollusca of Australia. Australian Zoologist 10: 188-230.
Sheldon, F. & Walker, K. F. (1993a). Shell variation in Australian Notopala (Gastropoda: Prosobranchia: Viviparidae). Journal of the Malacological Society of Australia 14: 59-71.
Sheldon, F. & Walker, K. F. (1993b). Pipelines as a refuge for freshwater snails. Regulated Rivers: Research & Management 8: 295-299.
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.
Stoddart, J. A. (1982). Western Australian viviparids (Prosobranchia: Mollusca). Journal of the Malacological Society of Australia 5: 167-173.Beesley, P. L., Ross, G. J. B. and Wells, A. (Eds). 1998. Mollusca: The Southern Synthesis. Fauna of Australia. Vol. 5. CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne. Part A. Pp. i-xvi,1-563, Part B i-viii, 565-1234.
Walker, K. F. (1996). The river snail Notopala hanleyi: an endangered pest. Xanthopus (Nature Conservation Society of South Australia Newsletter) 14: 1-5.
