Latia lateralis
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| Latia lateralis | ||||||||||||||||||||
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| Latia lateralis (Gould,1852) |
Latia lateralis is a species of small freshwater snail or limpet, an aquatic gastropod mollusc in the family Latiidae.
There is no fossil record of this species genus or family, so there is currently not enough information available to be able to understand its exact evolutionary origins.
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[edit] Distribution
This species is endemic to the North Island of New Zealand.
[edit] Habitat
This freshwater limpet is found on the underside of stones in clean-running streams and rivers.
[edit] Life habits
These animals have a pallial lung, as do all pulmonate snails, but they also have a false gill or "pseudobranch". This serves as a gill as, in their non-tidal habitat, these limpets never reach the surface for air.
When disturbed, the animal releases a bright green, light-emitting cloud. This is a unique bioluminescence system, but although being studied since 1880, the exact mechanism is still unclear.
These limpets feed upon the surface film covering the rocks on which they live, consisting of algae, bacteria and fungus. Little else is known about their biology.
