Tomichia

Tomichia is a genus of very small freshwater snails which have a gill and an operculum, gastropod molluscs or micromolluscs in the family Tomichiidae.^[3]

Tomichia
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Subclass:	Caenogastropoda
Order:	Littorinimorpha
Family:	Tomichiidae
Genus:	Tomichia Benson, 1851[1]
Diversity[2]
11 species

Distribution

The distribution of the genus Tomichia includes South Africa^[2] and Eastern Zaire.^[4] Tomichia is the only genus of Pomatiopsidae in Africa.^[4]

Ecology

This genus occurs is both freshwater and brackish water.^[3] There exist halophilic species of Tomichia which live in saline lakes^[2] such as Tomichia ventricosa.^[4]

Species

Brown (1994)^[4] recognized 10 species (7 in South Africa and 3 in Central Africa) and one undescribed species. Kameda & Kato (2011)^[2] recognized 11 species of Tomichia.

Species within the genus Tomichia include:

• Tomichia cawstoni Connolly, 1939^[4]
• Tomichia differens Connolly, 1939^[4]
• Tomichia guillemei Leloup, 1953^[4]
• Tomichia hendrickxi (Verdcourt, 1950)^[4]
• Tomichia kivuensis Mandahl-Barth, 1974^[4]
• Tomichia natalensis Connolly, 1939^[4]
• Tomichia rogersi (Connolly, 1929)^[4]
• Tomichia tristis (Morelet, 1889)^[4][5] - critically endangered^[6]
• Tomichia ventricosa (Reeve, 1842) - type species^[4]
• Tomichia zwellendamensis (Küster, 1852)^[4]
• (?)Tomichia n.sp. - reported by Cohen (1986) from Lake Turkana^[4]