Radix natalensis ( Krauss, 1848 )

Rapalai, Boikhutso Lerato, 2024, An annotated checklist of molluscs recorded from Botswana, Indago: Investigating nature and humanity in Africa (Oxford, England) 41 (10), pp. 15-44 : 25

28. Radix natalensis ( Krauss, 1848)

Distribution and year: Chobe River at Ngoma [SMWN 76314] and Ihaha [SMWN 76351] 1986 ( Brown et al. 1992); Thamalakane River near Maun [ETD4293] 1984 ( Brown et al. 1992); Lake Ngami N/A ( Connolly 1912; 1939); Boro River and Channel, and Nxaraga Lagoon, Chief’s Island, Okavango Delta [ETD4293] 1984 ( Brown et al. 1992), 2000 ( Appleton et al. 2003); Guma Lagoon, Okavango Delta 2000 ( Appleton et al. 2003); Upper panhandle, Okavango Delta 2000 ( Jansen van Rensburg 2001; Appleton et al. 2003); Okavango Delta 1983, 2000, 2018, 2019 ( GBIF 2023 b); Limpopo River N/A ( Appleton & Miranda 2015; Albrecht et al. 2018 e).

Geographic range: Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Habitat: Freshwater.

Notes: Radix natalensis is a highly variable species across its wide range in Africa, suspected to contain cryptic species ( Kristensen et al. 2009). The species is abundant in the Okavango River and East Caprivi ( Brown et al. 1992). The mollusc is the main intermediate host of the liver flukes Fasciola gigantica Cobbold, 1855 and Fasciola hepatica ( Linnaeus, 1758) in Africa ( Appleton et al. 2003).

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

Sources: Connolly (1912: 233; 1939: 476); van Bruggen (1966 a: 109); Brown & Kristensen (1989: 26); Brown et al. (1992: 26); Jansen van Rensburg (2001: 29); Appleton et al. (2003: 58–68); Appleton & Miranda (2015: 128) (all as Lymnaea natalensis ); GBIF (2023 b).

Conservation status: Least Concern.