Radix natalensis
| Radix natalensis | |
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| This drawing of the apertural view of a shell of Radix natalensis shows one of the extreme shell forms of this species. | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| (unranked): | clade Heterobranchia clade Euthyneura clade Panpulmonata clade Hygrophila |
| Superfamily: | Lymnaeoidea |
| Family: | Lymnaeidae |
| Subfamily: | Lymnaeinae |
| Genus: | Radix |
| Species: | R. natalensis |
| Binomial name | |
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Radix natalensis (Krauss, 1848) |
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| Synonyms | |
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Radix natalensis is a species of freshwater snail, an aquatic gastropod mollusc in the family Lymnaeidae.
This species occurs widely in Africa. It is a major intermediate host for Fasciola gigantica in Africa. Placement of this species in the genus Radix was confirmed by Correa et al. (2010).
Radix natalensis is a widespread species in Africa, occurring from northern Africa to southern Africa:
The type locality is in "pools in Port Natal", which today is Durban, South Africa.
Radix natalensis was described by the German scientist and traveller Christian Ferdinand Friedrich Krauss in 1848.
The shape of the shell is elongate ovoid. The shell is colorless or light brown in color. The height of the aperture covers about 3/4 of the shell height. The lip of the aperture is thin and sharp. The umbilicus is closed. The width of the shell is about 5.75–7 mm. The height of the shell is 4.6-19.2 mm.
The reproductive system and radula was described by Wright (1963) in detail.
Radix natalensis lives in permanent water bodies. An estimated density of Radix natalensis in a natural habitat in Tanzania was 34 snails per m². The snails lived mainly in the shallow water in depths of 0–4 cm, mainly between 20–30 cm from the shoreline. They prefer plant detritus or bedrock as a substrate.
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