Shell with short spire and open umbilicus; reaches 2.1 mm in maximum diameter. This species and Trochidrobia punicea are virtually identical in shell characters but differ anatomically. They are sympatric in only a few springs.
Trochidrobia smithi Ponder, Hershler & Jenkins, 1989
Class Gastropoda
Infraclass Caenogastropoda
Order Littorinida
Suborder Rissoidina
Superfamily Truncatelloidea
Family Tateidae
Genus Trochidrobia Ponder, Hershler & Jenkins 1989
Original name: Trochidrobia smithi Ponder, Hershler & Jenkins, 1989. In Ponder, W. F., Hershler, R. & Jenkins, B. (1989). An endemic radiation of hydrobiid snails from artesian springs in northern South Australia: their taxonomy, physiology, distribution and anatomy.Malacologia 31: 1-140.
Type locality: Twelve Mile Springs, South Australia.
Shallow water in lower parts of artesian spring outflow living together with species of Fonscochlea.
Found in the Middle Springs, South-western Springs and the Northern Springs of the Lake Eyre Supergroup, northern South Australia.
All of the Trochidrobia species are very similar in shell morphology with minor differences in size and protoconch sculpture. The main differences are anatomical - particularly the coiling pattern of the oviduct in the female genital system. There are also geographical clusters of species and species associations (see Ponder, Hershler and Jenkins, 1989).
Murphy, N. P., Breed, M. F., Guzik, M. T., Cooper, S. J., & Austin, A. D. (2012). Trapped in desert springs: phylogeography of Australian desert spring snails. Journal of Biogeography 39(9): 1573-1582.
Ponder, W. F., Hershler, R. & Jenkins, B. (1989). An endemic radiation of Hydrobiidae from artesian springs in northern South Australia: their taxonomy, physiology, distribution and anatomy. Malacologia 31: 1-140.
