The shell of P. marginata is narrower than nearly all other species and has a relatively smaller last whorl than any other species.This species is generally similar to P. annamurrayae and P. conica [1] [2][1] [2] which all have a long, narrow penis with a narrow base and an undulating penial duct.
Phrantela marginata (Petterd, 1889)
Class Gastropoda
Infraclass Caenogastropoda
Order Littorinida
Suborder Rissoidina
Superfamily Truncatelloidea
Family Beddomeiidae
Original name: Potamopyrgus (?) marginata Petterd, 1889. In Petterd, W. F. (1889). Contributions for a systematic catalogue of the aquatic shells of Tasmania. Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania 1888, 60-83.
Type locality: A small stream near Heazlewood River, Tasmania.
This species lives mainly amongst aquatic vegetation, it is also found in root mats in the bed of a small trickle. 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.
This species is known from a few localities in a small area along Thirteen Mile Creek, a tributary of the Heazlewood River, northwest Tasmania.
This species is on the Tasmanian Threatened Species Protection Act 1995 as Rare (small population at risk).
Petterd, W. F. (1889). Contributions for a systematic catalogue of the aquatic shells of Tasmania. Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania 1888: 60-83.
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.
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.
