Critically Endangered
Australian freshwater limpet
Ancylastrum cumingianum
Australian freshwater limpet is a gastropod in the family Planorbidae — Ancylastrum cumingianum, recorded as Critically Endangered.
Appearance
The Australian freshwater limpet has a limpet-like (patelliform) shell where the convex part of the shell is the front of the animal, and the concave part the back. The shell is thin and translucent, appearing greenish brown or yellow on the top and white inside. The top of the shell (apex) is actually a highly reduced spire, curling downwards and bending asymmetrically to the right.
Australian freshwater limpet is relatively large for a freshwater limpet, measuring 6 to 7 mm (0.24 to 0.28 in) in length, 5 to 5.5 mm (0.20 to 0.22 in) in width, and 2.5 to 3 mm (0.098 to 0.118 in) in height.
Range and habitat
This species is endemic to bodies of fresh water in the Central Plateau of Tasmania, where it is considered Critically Endangered.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Breeding
The Australian freshwater limpet, like the other Ancylastrum species, lays gelatinous, spiralling egg masses on rocks or wood. The breeding period for this species (and the genus as a whole) is hypothesized to be restricted to October through March.
In crisis
It faces threats of predation by trout, that were introduced to the area by humans. This species was listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN in 1996. It faces threats of poor water quality and predation by introduced trout.
A search was made, but found only two individuals of A. Cumingianus. The water in the lake was refilled in 2017, and in 2021, a total of 14 individuals were found across two sites.
Australian freshwater limpet is Critically Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.
Sources
Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Australian freshwater limpet, Wikidata item Q308585. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.
