Lanistes nyassanus

Lanistes nyassanus
L. nyassanus exhibit at the Naturalis Biodiversity Center
Conservation status
Vulnerable  (IUCN 3.1) [1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Subclass:	Caenogastropoda
Order:	Architaenioglossa
Family:	Ampullariidae
Genus:	Lanistes
Species:	L. nyassanus
Binomial name
Lanistes nyassanus Dohrn, 1865 [2]

Lanistes nyassanus is a species of large freshwater snail, an aquatic gastropod mollusk with a gill and an operculum in the family Ampullariidae, the apple snails. The shell of this species is unusual in that it has left-handed shell-coiling.

The specific name nyassanus is derived from the type locality of the species, Lake Nyassa.

Distribution

Lanistes nyassanus is found in Malawi and Mozambique. ^[1] Found in sand and weeds, it is common at 1.5 meters depth, but some have been found as deep as 35 meters. ^[1]

The type locality is the southern end of Lake Nyassa. ^[2]

Description

The width of the shell is 75 mm; the height of the shell is 68 mm. ^[3]

Behavior

These snails burrow into sand to hide from fish. ^[1]

References

1. Albrecht, C.; Clewing, C. (2018). "Lanistes nyassanus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2018 e.T184645A120111694. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T184645A120111694.en . Retrieved 17 November 2021.
2. Dohrn H. (1865). "List of the land and freshwater shells of the Zambezi and Lake Nyasa, eastern tropical Africa, collected by John Kirk". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1865: 231-234. page 233.
3. Brown D. S. (1994). Freshwater Snails of Africa and their Medical Importance. Taylor & Francis. ISBN   0-7484-0026-5.