Beddomeia fultoni facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Beddomeia fultoni
Conservation status
Vulnerable (IUCN 2.3)
Scientific classification

A scientific drawing of the Beddomeia fultoni snail from Tasmania

Beddomeia fultoni (often called B. fultoni) is a tiny freshwater snail. It belongs to a group of snails called the Tateidae family.

This snail is found only in Australia, making it an endemic species. People sometimes call it the Farnhams Creek hydrobiid snail. It's one of 37 Beddomeia species in Tasmania that are listed as threatened. This means they need special protection.

B. fultoni lives in north-western Tasmania. It has a very small home range. So far, scientists have only found it in six different streams. These streams are all very close, no more than 4 kilometers apart. Many Beddomeia species, including B. fultoni, live in very small areas. This makes them hard to protect. Things like farming, homes, climate change, and invasive species are big threats to these snails.

About the Beddomeia Snail Family

Snails are part of a larger group called freshwater molluscs. This group also includes bivalves like mussels and clams. Snails (called gastropods) and bivalves look very different. But they are grouped together because their basic body plans are similar.

The Beddomeia group of snails used to be part of the Hydrobiidae family. This family is huge, with over 267 known species! The Beddomeia group itself has four main types: Beddomeia, Phrantela, Nanocochlea, and Victodrobia.

Out of 67 species in the Beddomeia group, 47 are from the Beddomeia type. These snails are only found in Tasmania, mostly in the northern parts. About half of all known hydrobiid snails live in Tasmania.

Some hydrobiid snails are found everywhere and are very common. But others, like B. fultoni, live only in a single stream. Even within that stream, different groups of snails can be unique.

What Does Beddomeia Fultoni Look Like?

Hydrobiid snails are usually tiny, about 1 to 7 millimeters long. Their shells are often smooth and can be clear or dark brown. B. fultoni has a shell that is about 3 to 3.8 millimeters long. It is about 2.2 to 2.8 millimeters wide. The shell has a small opening called an umbilicus.

Because these snails are so small and often hidden, we don't know a lot about their lives. It can be hard to tell different hydrobiid species apart. Scientists used to look at their body parts and shells. Now, they often use special tests like DNA analysis to identify them. This helps them understand how different species are related.

B. fultoni can sometimes be confused with another snail called Austropyrgus. They look similar. But B. fultoni can usually be identified because it does not have a special part called an operculum peg. No Beddomeia species has this peg.

Where Beddomeia Fultoni Lives

Tasmania has the most diverse freshwater animals in Australia. This is unusual because usually, more different types of animals are found closer to the equator.

Scientists have studied the Beddomeia group in Australia. They found 67 different species. The Beddomeia group was divided into four main types. Three of these types (Beddomeia, Phrantela, and Nanocochlea) live only in Tasmania. The fourth type, Victodrobia, lives only in Victoria. These groups live very close to each other.

B. fultoni likes to hide in its habitat. It lives in small and large streams where the water flow doesn't change much.

This snail is found only in the Montagu area of north-western Tasmania. It lives in the small streams that feed into Fixters and Farnhams creeks. In Fixters Creek, you can find B. fultoni on roots, wood, leaves, and stones. As mentioned, it has only been found in six streams, all within 4 kilometers of each other. This shows how small its living area is.

The table below shows where Beddomeia fultoni has been found.

• NRM region = Natural Resource Management region

We don't know the exact length of streams where the snail lives. However, areas downstream are not good for them. This is due to things like dairy farming. Wide streams, lots of farming, logging, and homes also separate groups of these snails.

Species like B. fultoni have small living areas because they are small and don't move far. Old natural barriers often limit where species can live. For snails that can't travel much, moving between good habitats is very hard. B. fultoni is often found where there are roots, different types of ground, dead wood, and decaying plants.

Protecting Beddomeia Fultoni

In 1995, Beddomeia fultoni was listed as rare under Tasmania's Threatened Species Protection Act 1995. In 2009, its status changed to endangered. This happened because its living areas are very broken up. It's found in no more than five places. Also, its population seems to be shrinking. This is due to changes in its habitat. A species is called endangered when the things that caused its decline are still happening. This lowers its chances of surviving long-term.

The main threats to B. fultoni and other Beddomeia species are:

• Changes and destruction of their habitat.
• Competition from introduced species (animals brought in from other places).
• Climate change.
• Random events that harm small populations.

Habitat Changes

Areas in north-western Tasmania are used for farming, especially for vegetables. This is because the soil is very good there. Because of this, B. fultoni is very sensitive to human changes to its habitat.

When trees and plants along stream banks are removed, stream temperatures go up. This makes the habitat less suitable for B. fultoni. Keeping these plants along the streams is very important for the snails to survive. Farming, logging, and mining have hurt these areas. We don't know exactly how much damage has been done. But it is thought to cause short-term to long-term problems, some of which might be permanent. If nothing changes, human land use is expected to have the biggest impact on all living things by 2100. This is even more than climate change.

Climate Change Effects

Climate change is one of the biggest threats to all living things, along with invasive species. It is expected to cause many species, like B. fultoni, to disappear in the future. As the world gets warmer, we expect more rain, severe storms, and flooding. This is a big worry for freshwater animals. These events reduce the places where they can live. They also change the plants along the stream banks. Other things caused by climate change, like warmer water and rising sea levels, also make it harder for species like B. fultoni to survive.

How We Manage Protection

As of 2020, over 180 rare, vulnerable, or endangered animal species are listed under the Threatened Species Protection Act 1995 in Tasmania. More than half of these are invertebrates (animals without backbones). Thirty-seven of them are from the Beddomeia group.

Protecting B. fultoni and other Beddomeia snails is guided by laws. These include Tasmania's Threatened Species Protection Act 1995, the Nature Conservation Act 2000, and the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. Conservation efforts involve careful planning and rules, like the Forest Practices Code.

However, it's hard to manage these species because we don't fully understand where they like to live. We also don't know how they react to changes in their environment. For B. fultoni, the main goal is to lower its risk of disappearing. This means keeping its known habitats safe. It's also important to find new groups of these snails. Learning more about their lives is key to protecting them for a long time.

Beddomeia Fultoni's Life and Habits

Reproduction and Life Cycle

Beddomeia snails can breed all year round. They reproduce sexually. Each snail lays single eggs inside a special capsule made of sand grains. These egg capsules are about one-third the size of the adult snail. They have a wide base that helps them stick to the underside of rocks underwater.

We don't know how long it takes for the eggs to hatch. But before they hatch, the eggs develop into fully formed baby snails. Most Beddomeia species are thought to live for about 5 years. However, they grow slowly and only become ready to breed after 2 to 3 years.

Scientists believe that B. fultoni does not lay many eggs. This is because they find very few egg capsules compared to the number of snails. Unlike most other molluscs, Beddomeia snails do not have a free-swimming larval stage. This means they cannot easily spread to new habitats.

Predators and Competition

Molluscs are a big part of the diet for animals like platypus. In Tasmania, stonefly nymphs, introduced trout, and platypus are known to eat hydrobiid snails. We don't know much about how hydrobiid snails react to being hunted, except for their shell shape.

Native snail populations, like B. fultoni, have also been negatively affected by introduced species. For example, the snail Potamopyrgus antipodarium has caused problems in streams where B. fultoni lives.

How Beddomeia Fultoni Eats

Snails usually eat by crawling over surfaces and using their mouths. They move quickly until they find food. Once they find it, they stay in that area until the food runs out.

Snails can also find food in still water using a method called "tropotaxis". This means they can sense and measure the amount of attractive chemicals in nearby places. When they reach these food sources, similar chemicals make them start eating.

The first part of a snail to touch the ground when it's eating is a muscular organ called the proboscis. It's common to find sand grains in the stomachs of freshwater snails like Beddomeia fultoni. It's likely they eat this sand on purpose to help grind up their food.

See also

• List of non-marine molluscs of Australia
• List of marine molluscs of Australia
• List of Beddomeia species
• Winston Ponder