Diagnostic features

There are two species of Tatea, both have elongate shells and the adults have a thickened aperture and the operculum bears several pegs. T. huonensis has a broader shell than T. rufilabris, the spire has a straight outline and the last whorl is less angulate at the periphery.

Classification

Tatea huonensis (Tenison Woods, 1876)

Class Gastropoda

Infraclass Caenogastropoda

Order Littorinida

Suborder Rissoidina

Superfamily Truncatelloidea

Family Tateidae

Genus Tatea Tenison Woods, 1879

Original name: Bythinia huonensis Tenison Woods, 1876. In Woods, J. E. Tenison (1876). On the freshwater shells of Tasmania. Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania 1875: 3 - 89.

 Type locality: Huon River, Tasmania.

Synonyms: Tatea paradisiaca Pilsbry, 1897; Tatea ballina Iredale, 1943.

Biology and ecology

In leaf litter, under logs, rocks, etc. amongst mangroves, in salt marsh and along river banks in estuaries and coastal lagoons. Often abundant. Assumed to feed on microalgae and bacteria. Solitary, sand-covered hemispherical capsules with single egg. Development includes a short planktotrophic phase.

Distribution

From southern Queensland to southern Western Australia and Tasmania.

Notes

Tatea differs from other tateids in having the following combination of characters: a protoconch of two whorls consisting of protoconch I and II (not about 1.3-1.7 whorls with no protoconch 11), a black pigment ring around the distal end of the cephalic tentacles, and the female genital opening located beneath the middle of the capsule gland. It differs from nearly all in having more massive opercular pegs and a thicker operculum. In addition, Tatea has several small ciliated folds on the left cephalic tentacle, a feature that is absent in related freshwater taxa.

Further reading