Austropeplea sp. (genus)

1 Freshwater snail at Bolaro, NSW

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Identification history

	Austropeplea sp. (genus)	8 Dec 2020	michaelb
	Austropeplea	7 Dec 2020	DavidMcKay

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User's notes

This small (12-18mm) snail came from a creek that runs into the Murrumbidgee near Adaminaby. The creek runs only after rain, but small pools and soaks persist in most years. These snails seem to appear in pools in years of higher rainfall. Clearly this is mollusc. With no expertise I tried the Australian Freshwater Mollusc Interactive Key. After several runs my best guess would be an Austropeplea, Family Lymnaeidae. As these snails include some that may be in the liver fluke cycle, I tried the NSW Department of primary Industries (DPI) publication, “Identifying liver fluke snails”. This was useful as it could eliminate some similar snails which left Austropeplea tomentosa as the most likely of the fluke snails. The description given by the DPI for Austropeplea tomentosa is, clockwise, operculum absent, flat triangular tentacles, 4-12mm size and a grey to yellowish foot that extends well out of the shell that has 3- 4 whorls. This is a fair description of the snail in the photographs. The DPI describe the preferred environment for Austropeplea tomentosa as “trickling creeks flowing from hillside springs and soaks”) which fits well. Identification would require an expert. My attempt to identify this snail is an inexpert guess but as it might be an indigenous species, I have posted the photographs hoping there might be some comment and a better ID.

1 comment

michaelb wrote:

8 Dec 2020

We have no experts on molluscs. Your suggestion seems very reasonable. See:
https://bie.ala.org.au/species/urn:lsid:biodiversity.org.au:afd.taxon:71944d92-f145-4a23-aa8d-8364fbaad1dd

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