P. warwicki is anatomically similar to P. daveyensis (s.l.) and P. richardsoni differing mainly in shell characters, having a somewhat pupiform rather than conical shape. It does, however, also differ in lacking a pallial tentacle, having a completely unpigmented head-foot, and in a number of anatomical features. P. warwicki is most similar to P. pupiformis in shell and anatomical characters, but with a longer gill. These two species have a similar shell shape, which is rather unlike other members of the genus. They also differ from other species of Phrantela in having a thick prostate gland, although very similar in other respects.
Phrantela warwicki Ponder & Clark, 1993
Class Gastropoda
Infraclass Caenogastropoda
Order Littorinida
Suborder Rissoidina
Superfamily Truncatelloidea
Family Beddomeiidae
Original name: Phrantela warwicki 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: Small tributary of the Picton River, southeast Tasmania (43°07'23" S., 146°43'36" E).
This species lives under stones and in moss. 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 type is from a small tributary of the Picton River, southeast Tasmania but specimens tentatively referred to this species are located over a reasonably wide area in southeast Tasmania.
This taxon, and a number of possibly conspecific populations which are very similar in shell characters, are found in the south-eastern corner of Tasmania, being the only member of the genus known from that area, although it is often found sympatrically with species of Nanocochlea.
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.
