31. Biomphalaria pfeifferi (Krauss, 1848)

Distribution and year: Kwando River between Lianzulu and Chobe River [SMWN76089, 76366, 76372, 76376, 76382, 76391, 76528, 76538, 76562] 1986 (Brown et al. 1992); Chobe River, Linyanti Channel [SMWN76306] 1986 (Brown et al. 1992); Chobe River at Ngoma [SMWN76315] and Ihaha [SMWN76353] 1986 (Brown et al. 1992); Boro River near Maun and Nxaraga Lagoon, Chief’s Island [ETD4296] 1984 (Brown et al. 1992); Thamalakane River opposite Okavango River Lodge [ETD4297] 1984 (Brown et al. 1992); “Botletle” (Boteti) River at Chanoga [ETD 4297] 1984 (Brown et al. 1992); Okavango Delta 1999, 2000 (Jansen van Rensburg 2001; Appleton et al. 2003), 2003 (Dallas & Mosepele 2007).

Geographic range: Algeria, Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Habitat: Freshwater.

Notes: The species is ubiquitous across Africa, including the tropical regions (Brown 1994). This is the commonest snail in the Okavango Delta (Brown et al. 1992; Appleton et al. 2003). The species seems to be tolerant to anthropogenic activities such as pollution and habitat disturbance (Brown 1994), but is not acclimatized to extremely hot or extremely cold conditions and does not favour sheltered habitats (Brown 1994). The mollusc is an intermediate host of Schistosoma mansoni Sambon, 1907, the parasite causing human schistosomiasis (Appleton et al. 2003).

Type locality: Umgeni Valley, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa (Krauss 1848) .

Sources: Connolly (1939: 484); van Bruggen (1966 a: 109); Brown et al. (1992: 29); Jansen van Rensburg (2001: 29); Appleton et al. (2003: 58–68); Dallas & Mosepele (2007: 4); Appleton & Miranda (2015: 130).

Conservation status: Least Concern.