This species differs from all other Phrantela species in having a rather broadly ovate shell which resembles that of several species of Beddomeia in shape. It differs from all species in that genus, however, by having a rather long slit-like female genital opening, and an otherwise typical female genital system.
Phrantela bobbrowni Ponder & Clark, 1993
Class Gastropoda
Infraclass Caenogastropoda
Order Littorinida
Suborder Rissoidina
Superfamily Truncatelloidea
Family Beddomeiidae
Original name: Phrantela bobbrowni Ponder & Clark, 1993. In Ponder, W. F., Clark, G. A., Miller, A. C & Toluzzi, A. (1993). On a major radiation of freshwater snails in Tasmania and eastern Victoria - a preliminary overview of the Beddomeia group (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Hydrobiidae). Invertebrate Taxonomy, 7: 501-750.
Type locality: Tributary of Giblin River, Tasmania (43°02'03" S, 145°44'56" E).
In weed, plant debris and on wood. Egg capsules unknown but probably like those of an unnamed species of Phrantela; small, with single embryo, and covered in coarse sand grains. Development direct.
The holotype of this species occurs in a small, swampy stream (tributary of Giblin River) where it is sympatric with a species of Austropyrgus and two other species of Phrantela: P. daveyensis tristis and P. angulifera. The species also occurs in a tributary of the Olga River (large stream) and in a small tributary of Dismal Creek (tributary of Hardwood River), southwest Tasmania.
Ponder, W. F., Clark, G. A., Miller, A. C. & Toluzzi, A. (1993). On a major radiation of freshwater snails in Tasmania and eastern Victoria: a preliminary overview of the Beddomeia group (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Hydrobiidae). Invertebrate Taxonomy 7: 501-750.
