Korniushin (2000) noted that this subspecies is distinguished from typical S. (S.) tasmanicum mainly by its peculiar shell outline and posteriorly shifted umbo. Anatomically, queenslandicum differs in having weaker siphonal retractors and an elongate dorsal lobe of the nephridia.
Sphaerium (Sphaerinova) tasmanicum queenslandicum E. A. Smith, 1883
Common name: Pea shell, pea clam, pill clam
Class Bivalvia
Infraclass Heteroconchia
Cohort Heterodonta
Megaorder Neoheterodontei
Order Sphaeriida
Superfamily Sphaerioidea
Family Sphaeriidae
Subfamily Sphaeriinae
Genus Sphaerium Scopoli, 1777
Type species: Tellina cornea Linnaeus, 1758. Europe.
Subgenus Sphaerinova Iredale, 1943
Original name: Sphaerium queenslandicum E. A. Smith, 1883. In Smith, E.A. (1882). On the freshwater shells of Australia. Journal of the Linnean Society of London, Zoology 16: 255-316.
Type locality: Limestone Creek, Burdekin River, Queensland.
The Northern Territory records are tenatively assigned to this taxon.
Graf & Cummings (2023) treat this subspecies as a synonym of Sphaerium tasmanicum but without justification.
Shallow burrower in sand/mud in creeks, ponds, swamps and lakes. Suspension and deposit feeder, larvae brooded. Suspension and deposit feeder.
Northern Queensland and in streams running into the Gulf of Carpentaria, Northern Territory.
Graf, D. L. & Cummings, K. S. (2023). The Freshwater Mussels (Unionoida) of the World (and other less consequential bivalves). MUSSEL Project Web Site, http://www.mussel-project.net/. Accessed April 2023.
Korniushin, A. V. (2000). Review of the family Sphaeriidae (Mollusca: Bivalvia) of Australia, with the description of four new species. Records of the Australian Museum 52: 41-102.
Kuiper, J. G. J. (1983). The Sphaeriidae of Australia. Basteria 47: 3-52.
Lee, T. (2019). Sphaeriidae Deshayes, 1855 (1820). Pp. 197-201 in C. Lydeard & Cummings, K. S. Freshwater Mollusks of the World: a Distribution Atlas. Baltimore, John Hopkins University Press.
Lee, T. & Ó Foighil, D. (2003). Phylogenetic structure of the Sphaeriinae, a global clade of freshwater bivalve molluscs, inferred from nuclear (ITS-1) and mitochondrial (16S) ribosomal gene sequences. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 137: 245-260.
Willan, R. C. & Kessner, V. (2021). A conspectus of the freshwater molluscs of the Daly River catchment, Northern Territory. Northern Territory Naturalist 30: 108-137.
