''Neothauma '' is a genus of

freshwater snail Freshwater snails are gastropod mollusks which live in fresh water. There are many different families. They are found throughout the world in various habitats, ranging from ephemeral pools to the largest lakes, and from small seeps and springs ...

with a gill and an operculum, an aquatic

gastropod The gastropods (), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, from freshwater, and from land. T ...

mollusc Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is esti ...

in the subfamily Bellamyinae of the family Viviparidae. MolluscaBase eds. (2021). MolluscaBase. Neothauma E. A. Smith, 1880. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=994450 on 2021-09-19

Species

* ''

Neothauma jouberti ''Neothauma '' is a genus of freshwater snail with a gill and an operculum, an aquatic gastropod mollusc in the subfamily Bellamyinae of the family Viviparidae. MolluscaBase eds. (2021). MolluscaBase. Neothauma E. A. Smith, 1880. Accessed th ...

'' Bourguignat, 1888 * † ''

Neothauma jupadwongaensis ''Neothauma '' is a genus of freshwater snail with a gill and an operculum, an aquatic gastropod mollusc in the subfamily Bellamyinae of the family Viviparidae. MolluscaBase eds. (2021). MolluscaBase. Neothauma E. A. Smith, 1880. Accessed th ...

'' Musalizi, 2017 * '' Neothauma tanganyicense'' E. A. Smith, 1880 Brown D. S. (1994). ''Freshwater Snails of Africa and their Medical Importance''. Taylor & Francis. . ;Taxa inquirenda: * ''Neothauma bridouxianum'' Grandidier, 1885 * ''Neothauma servainianum'' Grandidier, 1885 ;Species brought into synonymy: * ''Neothauma bicarinatum'' Bourguignat, 1885: synonym of ''Neothauma tanganyicense var. bicarinatum'' Bourguignat, 1885 * ''Neothauma ecclesi'' Pain & Crowley, 1964: synonym of '' Bellamya ecclesi'' (Crowley & Pain, 1964) (original combination) * ''Neothauma giraudi'' Bourguignat, 1885: synonym of ''Neothauma tanganyicense'' E. A. Smith, 1880 (junior synonym)

Distribution

This freshwater snail is only found in

Lake Tanganyika Lake Tanganyika () is an African Great Lake. It is the second-oldest freshwater lake in the world, the second-largest by volume, and the second-deepest, in all cases after Lake Baikal in Siberia. It is the world's longest freshwater lake. ...

, where it is the largest gastropod, and occurs in all four of the bordering countries —

Burundi Burundi (, ), officially the Republic of Burundi ( rn, Repuburika y’Uburundi ; Swahili language, Swahili: ''Jamuhuri ya Burundi''; French language, French: ''République du Burundi'' ), is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley at the ...

, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, and Zambia — although fossil shells have been discovered at Lake Edward and in the Lake Albert basin. The type locality is the East shore of Lake Tanganyika, at Ujiji. Mollusks of the genus Neothauma

History

The genus ''Neothauma'' previously contained several species, but most were reassigned to other genera.

Description

The width of the shell is . The height of the shell is .

Ecology

This species lives in depths of up to . There is conflicting information relating to its feeding behavior, with one study referring to it as a

detritus In biology, detritus () is dead particulate organic material, as distinguished from dissolved organic material. Detritus typically includes the bodies or fragments of bodies of dead organisms, and fecal material. Detritus typically hosts commun ...

-feeder, another saying that it actively preys on

endobenthic Benthos (), also known as benthon, is the community of organisms that live on, in, or near the bottom of a sea, river, lake, or stream, also known as the benthic zone.cichlid fish Cichlids are fish from the family Cichlidae in the order Cichliformes. Cichlids were traditionally classed in a suborder, the Labroidei, along with the wrasses ( Labridae), in the order Perciformes, but molecular studies have contradicted this ...

( shell dwellers), and

freshwater crab Around 1,300 species of freshwater crabs are distributed throughout the tropics and subtropics, divided among eight families. They show direct development and maternal care of a small number of offspring, in contrast to marine crabs, which relea ...

s of the genus ''

Platythelphusa ''Platythelphusa'' is a genus of freshwater crabs endemic to Lake Tanganyika. It has been placed in a number of families, including a monotypic family, Platythelphusidae, as well as Potamidae and its current position in the Potamonautidae, and ha ...

''. Juvenile snails live in the sediment in order to avoid predators.

References

External links

*
Bourguignat (1890), "Histoire malacologique du Lac Tanganika (Afrique equaltoriale)"
{{Taxonbar, from=Q3319970 Viviparidae Gastropods described in 1880 Monotypic gastropod genera Taxa named by Edgar Albert Smith Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Snails of Lake Tanganyika