**Neothauma ** is a genus of freshwater snail with a gill and an operculum, an aquatic gastropod mollusc in the subfamily Bellamyinae of the family Viviparidae.

Species

Distribution

This freshwater snail is only found in Lake Tanganyika, where it is the largest gastropod, and occurs in all four of the bordering countries — Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, and Zambia — although fossil shells have been discovered at Lake Edward and in the Lake Albert basin. The type locality is the East shore of Lake Tanganyika, at Ujiji.

History

The genus Neothauma previously contained several species, but most were reassigned to other genera.

Description

The width of the shell is 46 mm. The height of the shell is 60 mm.

Ecology

This species lives in depths of up to 65 m. There is conflicting information relating to its feeding behavior, with one study referring to it as a detritus-feeder, another saying that it actively preys on endobenthic organisms, and finally that it feeds on particulate organic filtered while the snail is buried. The shells of dead Neothauma tanganyicense often form carpets over large areas, and are used by a number of other animals, such as cichlid fish (shell dwellers), and freshwater crabs of the genus Platythelphusa. Juvenile snails live in the sediment in order to avoid predators.