The genus Neothauma previously contained several species, but most were reassigned to other genera.[7]
Description
The width of the shell is 46mm (1.8in).[6] The height of the shell is 60mm (2.4in).[6]
Ecology
This species lives in depths of up to 65m (213ft).[6] There is conflicting information relating to its feeding behavior, with one study referring to it as a detritus-feeder,[8] another saying that it actively preys on endobenthic organisms,[9] and finally that it feeds on particulate organic filtered while the snail is buried.[10]
The shells of dead Neothauma tanganyicense often form carpets over large areas, and are used by a number of other animals, such as cichlid fish (shell dwellers),[11] and freshwater crabs of the genus Platythelphusa.[12] Juvenile snails live in the sediment in order to avoid predators.[6]
↑ Smith E. A. (1880). "On the shells of Lake Tanganyika and of the neighbourhood of Ujiji, central Africa". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London1880: 344-352. Page 349. Plate 31.
↑ Palacios-Fest, M.R.; S.R. Alin; A.S. Cohen; B. Tanner; H. Heuser (2005). "Paleolimnological investigations of anthropogenic environmental change in Lake Tanganyika: IV. Lacustrine paleoecology". Journal of Paleolimnology. 34: 51–71. CiteSeerX10.1.1.489.2218. doi:10.1007/s10933-005-2397-1.
↑ Van Damme, D.; Pickford, M. (1998). "The late Cenozoic Viviparidae (Mollusca, Gastropoda) of the Albertine Rift Valley". Hydrobiologia. 390 (1): 171–217. doi:10.1023/A:1003518218109.
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