Bulinus africanus ( 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 : 23

22. Bulinus africanus ( Krauss, 1848)

Distribution and year: Okavango Delta N/A ( Appleton & Miranda 2015); Linyanti River, Kazungula [NHMUK:ecatalogue:2445293] 1956 ( GBIF 2023 b).

Geographic range: Botswana, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Habitat: Freshwater.

Notes: This species is widely distributed from Southern to Eastern Africa and occurs mostly in permanent waterbodies such as rivers, streams and dams ( Brown 1994); it is capable of aestivating for long periods ( Appleton & Miranda 2015). This species is an intermediate host of parasites causing bilharzia in humans ( Appleton & Miranda 2015) and schistosomiasis in both domesticated and wild bovines ( Brown 1994).

Type locality: “Port Natal” ( Durban ), KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa ( Krauss 1848) .

Sources: Brown (1994: 329); Appleton & Miranda (2015: 130); GBIF (2023 b).

Conservation status: Least Concern.