Bulinus forskalii is a species of tropical freshwater snail with a sinistral shell, an aquatic gastropod mollusk in the family Bulinidae, the ramshorn snails and their allies.MolluscaBase eds. (2020). MolluscaBase. Bulinus forskalii (Ehrenberg, 1831). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=1058686 on 2020-06-27
Distribution Bulinus forskalii is an afrotropical species which occurs in number of countries in Africa:
Northern Africa: only in Egypt and Sudan. Western Africa: Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Senegal Sarr A., Kinzelbach R. & Diouf M. (2011, in press). "Diversité spécifique et écologie des mollusques continenatux de la basse vallée du Ferlo (Sénégal). [Specific diversity and ecology of continental molluscs from the Lower Ferlo Valley (Senegal)]". MalaCo 7: 8 pp. PDF . and Togo. Eastern Africa: Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Somalia, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Central Africa: Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. An extreme variant of Bulinus forskalii lives also on São Tomé Island. Southern Africa: South Africa and Eswatini.
This species has been recently introduced to Madagascar.
Its presence is uncertain in Mauritania, Nigeria and in Sierra Leone.
Ecology The natural habitats for this species are lake margins, swamps, marshes and wetland areas. It lives in all types of freshwater bodies and it has been found mainly in dams and brooks in South Africa. The substratum is often muddy.
Bulinus forskalii is a hermaphroditic species. Self-fertilization can occur.
Parasites of Bulinus forskalii include: as intermediate host for Schistosoma guineensis as intermediate host for Schistosoma intercalatum as intermediate host for Schistosoma haematobium – experimental infection in Niger, but incompatible in South Africa as intermediate host for Gastrodiscus aegyptiacus, that causes gastrodiscosis in horses three species of paramphistomes (superfamily Paramphistomoidea)
It has been found incompatible with Schistosoma mattheei in South Africa.
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