Paramelania iridescens

Paramelania iridescens is a species of tropical freshwater snail with an operculum, aquatic gastropod mollusk in the family Paludomidae.

Paramelania iridescens
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
(unranked):	clade Caenogastropoda clade Sorbeoconcha
Superfamily:	Cerithioidea
Family:	Paludomidae
Subfamily:	Hauttecoeuriinae
Tribe:	Tiphobiini
Genus:	Paramelania
Species:	P. iridescens
Binomial name
Paramelania iridescens (Moore, 1898)[2]
Synonyms
Bythoceras iridescens Moore, 1898

Distribution

This species is found in Lake Tanganyika in Burundi, also in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, and Zambia.[1]

The type locality is towards the south shore near Sumbu, Lake Tanganyika, in depths of 182–213 m (600–700 ft).[2][3]

Shell description

There is a spine in the upper part and in the lower part of the aperture of mature specimens.[3]

The width of the shell is 19 mm.[3] The height of the shell is 40 mm.[3]

Ecology

This snail lives in Lake Tanganyika in depths of 10–150 m.[3] It lives on a mud substrate.[3]

References

1. Nicayennzi F. & Lange C. N. (2004). Paramelania iridescens. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 7 August 2007.
2. Moore J. E. S. (1898). "Descriptions of the genera Bathanalia and Bythoceras, from Lake Tanganyika". Proceedings of the Malacological Society of London 3: 92-93.
3. Brown D. S. (1994). Freshwater Snails of Africa and their Medical Importance. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 0-7484-0026-5.

Further reading

• Strong E. E. & Glaubrecht M. (2010). "Anatomy of the Tiphobiini from Lake Tanganyika (Cerithioidea, Paludomidae)". Malacologia 52(1): 115-153. doi:10.4002/040.052.0108.