Physella acuta ( Draparnaud, 1805 )

Marković, Vanja, Gojšina, Vukašin, Novaković, Boris, Božanić, Milenka, Stojanović, Katarina, Karan-Žnidaršič, Tamara & Živić, Ivana, 2021, The freshwater molluscs of Serbia: Annotated checklist with remarks on distribution and protection status, Zootaxa 5003 (1), pp. 1-64 : 26-27

48. Physella acuta ( Draparnaud, 1805)

Findings in Serbia.

Phvsa acuta: Matoničkin et al. (1975) ; Jovanović (1990); Arambašić (1994); Karaman & Živić (2001); Marković et al. (2012, 2015); Martinović-Vitanović et al. (2013); Novaković (2014).

Physa (Physella) acuta : Karaman (2001); Paunović et al. (2007 a).

Haitia acuta : Karaman (2005).

Physella (Costatella) acuta : Karaman & Karaman (2007).

Physella acuta: Frank et al. (1990) ; Jovanović (1995 a); Reh et al. (1997); Novaković (2012, 2013, 2014); Marković et al. (2013); Raković et al. (2016).

Common name. European Physa , tadpole snail, bladder snail and acute bladder snail.

Morphology. Medium-sized snail (up to 16 mm /height). Sinistral, glossy, conical shell with acute apex. Mantle lacks finger-like extensions, and has gold spots, easily visible below the shell surface. Animal is black with violet hue. For more details see Welter-Schultes (2012: 56, figures in the middle and the top of the page).

Distribution and ecology. Nearctic species, invasive in Europe ( France as the first recipient region), present in Southern, Western and Central Europe. Standing and slowly flowing waters, tolerates drought and higher water temperatures. Prefers meso-to eutrophic waters with a muddy bottom ( Glöer 2019). Widespread in Serbia: Danube, Sava, Tisza, Velika Morava, Zapadna Morava, Južna Morava, Karaš, Mlava, Nišava, Toplica, Brestovačka reka Rivers and DTD canals. Novaković (2014) has reported the highest abundances of this snail in medium-sized rivers with gravel-rocky bottom in central Serbia (Despotovica, Lepenica and Toplica Rievrs).

Other remarks. Morphologically it resembles Physella gyrina (Say 1821) , and can be misidentified. On the IUCN Red List it has been assessed as LC ( Van Damme et al. 2017).