The Souapitia Snail was described in 1961; it was restricted to a single locality, a stretch of rapids in the Kountouré River in the Republic Guinea.

The habitat, rocks in swiftly running waters, does not exist anymore because China International Water & Electric Corporation, a Chinese construction and engineering consulting company, begun to build a dam, the Souapiti Hydropower Station, in 2015, a project that apparently was finished in 2019.

A survival of this highly rheophilic, i.e. adapted to live in fast-moving water, is rather unlikely, it is now extinct.

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The species was said to have been found in Nigeria recently, however, this is report is erroneous and is based on a misinterpretation of specimens of another snail species, the African Gabbiella Snail (Gabbiella africana(Frauenfeld)). [1]

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References:

[1] S. O. Oladejo; O. A. Morenikeji: Spatial Distribution of Fresh Water Snails in Erinle Reservoir Dam, Olorunda Local Government Area, Osogbo, Osun State, Nigeria. Journal of Agriculture and Forest Meteorology Research 3(1): 246-254. 2020

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edited: 04.05.2022