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The giant African snail, Achatina fulica, has been widely introduced to Asia, to Pacific and Indian Oceans islands, and to the West Indies. It has also been intercepted widely by quarantine officials and incipient invasions have been eradicated, for instance in the mainland USA. It is a major agricultural and garden pest, and a general nuisance. It is also a vector (as are many snail species) of several human pathogens and parasites. Often its introduction leads to the subsequent introduction of predatory snails and, more recently, flatworms as putative biological control agents that can have devastating effects on native land snail diversity. Image File history File links Photo of a Giant African Snail (Achatina (Lissachatina) fulica Bowdich) taken near Pattaya (Chonburi Province), Thailand. ...
Scientific classification or biological classification is how biologists group and categorize extinct and living species of organisms (as opposed to folk taxonomy). ...
Phyla Animals are a major group of organisms, classified as the kingdom Animalia or MetaÂzoa. ...
Classes Caudofoveata Aplacophora Polyplacophora Monoplacophora Bivalvia Scaphopoda Gastropoda Cephalopoda †Rostroconchia The mollusks or molluscs are the large and diverse phylum Mollusca, which includes a variety of familiar creatures well-known for their decorative shells or as seafood. ...
Subclass Subclass Eogastropoda Patellogastropoda Subclass Orthogastropoda Superorder Cocculiniformia Superorder Hot Vent Taxa Neomphaolida Superorder Vetigastropoda Superorder Neritaemorphi Neritopsina Superorder Caenogastropoda Architaenioglossa Sorbeoconcha Superorder Heterobranchia Heterostropha Opisthobranchia Pulmonata The gastropods, or univalves, are the largest and most successful class of mollusks, with 60,000-75,000 species, and second largest class...
Suborders Systellommatophora Basommatophora Eupulmonata Stylommatophora The Pulmonata are an order (sometimes subclass) of snails and slugs that have developed lungs. ...
Genera Achatina Archachatina Atopocochlis Burtoa Callistopepla Columna Lignus Limicolaria Limocolariopsis Metachatina Perideriopsis Pseudachatina Achitinidae is a family of terrestrial snails from Africa. ...
In biology, binomial nomenclature is the formal method of naming species. ...
World map showing the location of Asia. ...
For other meanings of Pacific, see Pacific (disambiguation). ...
The Caribbean or the West Indies is a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea. ...
Larval form of some beetle is damaging specimen of Sceliphron destillatorius in entomogical collection. ...
Look up vector in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
A pathogen or infectious agent is a biological agent that causes disease or illness to its host. ...
A parasite is an organism that spends a significant portion of its life in or on the living tissue of a host organism and which causes harm to the host without immediately killing it. ...
Classes The flatworms (Platyhelminthes, Greek platy: flat; helminth: worm) are a phylum of relatively simple soft-bodied invertebrate animals. ...
More recently, the land snail has become a common pet, however are illegal in some countries including the United States [1]. They are easy and cheap to keep, and if bred in captivity, are unlikely to carry any parasites.
Description
A very large snail, adults are usually around 7-8 cm tall, and can reach 20 cm in length or more. The shell has a rounded conical shape, being about twice as high as it is broad. The shell is generally brown in color with irregular darker streaks running transversely across the whorls. A centimetre (US: centimeter) is a factor of the SI unit of length: there are one hundred centimeters in the base unit of measure, the metre. ...
Various seashells The hard, rigid outer covering of certain animals is called a shell. ...
In common usage and elementary geometry, a cone (Greek: κώνος) is a solid object obtained by rotating a right triangle around one of its two short sides, the cones axis. ...
Habitat The giant African snail is native to East Africa, especially Kenya and Tanzania, but also include most regions of the humid tropics, including many Pacific islands, southern and eastern Asia, and the Caribbean. The giant African snail can now be found in agricultural areas, coastland, disturbed areas, natural forest, planted forests, riparian zones, scrub/shrublands, urban areas, and wetlands. They are active at night and spend the day buried underground. Africa is the worlds second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia. ...
Impact The giant African snail has been widely introduced throughout the tropics and subtropics. After introduction, its population increases dramatically, perhaps following a variable lag time, as seen in many other introductions of non-native species. The snails frequently reach such enormous numbers, at least locally, that they become not only agricultural and garden pests but also a major public nuisance, causing road hazards and making it difficult to avoid them while walking. The snail has been considered the most important snail pest in the tropics and subtropics. The tropics are the geographic region of the Earth centered on the equator and limited in latitude by the two tropics: the Tropic of Cancer in the north and the Tropic of Capricorn in the southern hemisphere. ...
Subtropical (or semitropical) areas are those adjacent to the tropics, usually roughly defined as the ranges 23. ...
In biology, a species is the basic unit of biodiversity. ...
Larval form of some beetle is damaging specimen of Sceliphron destillatorius in entomogical collection. ...
However, some argue that its agricultural impacts may have been exaggerated, the nuisance factor perhaps being more important. By reaching such enormous numbers and invading native ecosystems they also pose a serious conservation problem. Not only may they eat native plants, modifying their habitat, but they probably also out-compete existing native snails. In ecology, an ecosystem is a combination of all the living and non-living elements of an area. ...
Disease The giant African snail is also a vector of Angiostrongylus cantonensis (Nematoda; Protostrongylidae) or "Rat Lungworm", the roundworm responsible for eosinophilic meningo-encephalitis in humans and the spread of the disease has been correlated with the spread of the snail. However, many other introduced snails in the tropics are also vectors of this parasite and the spread of the disease has not definitively been related to the spread of the giant African snail. Look up vector in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
Classes Adenophora Subclass Enoplia Subclass Chromadoria Secernentea Subclass Rhabditia Subclass Spiruria Subclass Diplogasteria The roundworms (Phylum Nematoda) are one of the most common phyla of animals, with over 20,000 different described species. ...
Classes Adenophorea Subclass Enoplia Subclass Chromadoria Secernentea Subclass Rhabditia Subclass Spiruria Subclass Diplogasteria The roundworms or nematodes (Phylum Nematoda from Gr. ...
The more insidious conservation problem they cause is that they tempt agricultural officials to initiate a number of putative biological control measures. The most well publicised of these measures is the introduction of predatory snails, most notably Euglandina rosea. The first attempts at such biological control were made in Hawaii. Fifteen carnivorous snail species were deliberately introduced. Of these, nine did not become established; the fate of three is unknown but they are certainly not common and do not appear to be causing serious problems. However, three have become established: Euglandina rosea, Gonaxis kibweziensis, Gonaxis quadrilateralis. There is no scientific evidence that the predatory snails are the reason for the observed decline in numbers of the giant African snail, however. This snapping turtle is trying to make a meal of a Canada goose, but the goose is too wary. ...
Official language(s) English, Hawaiian Capital Honolulu Largest city Honolulu Area Ranked 43rd - Total 10,941 sq mi (28,337 km²) - Width n/a miles (n/a km) - Length 1,522 miles (2,450 km) - % water 41. ...
This article deals with meat-eating animals. ...
Similar ill-conceived attempts at biological control involving Euglandina rosea in particular have been implemented in French Polynesia, American Samoa, Guam, and a number of other places in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. In addition to the deliberate introduction of predatory snails, the predatory flatworm Platydemus manokwari has also been introduced, although as yet less widely. It is reported that this flatworm can indeed cause populations of the giant African snail to decline, but the evidence is only correlative, not convincingly causative. However, the flatworm has also been implicated in the decline of native species on Guam. It cannot be stressed enough that these introductions of putative biological control agents against the giant African snail are extremely dangerous from the perspective of the conservation of native snail species, and in any case, there is no good evidence that they can indeed control giant African snail populations. For other meanings of Pacific, see Pacific (disambiguation). ...
Classes The flatworms (Platyhelminthes, Greek platy: flat; helminth: worm) are a phylum of relatively simple soft-bodied invertebrate animals. ...
Population control Suggested preventative measures must include strict quarantine measures to prevent introduction and further spread. Many methods have been tried to eradicate the giant African snail. Generally, none of them have been effective except where implemented at the first sign of infestation. Methods include hand collecting, use of molluscicides, flame-throwers, and the failed attempts at biological control discussed above. In some regions, an effort has been made to promote use of the giant African snail as a food resource, collecting the snails for food being seen as a method of controlling them. However, promoting a pest in this way is a controversial measure, as it may encourage the further deliberate spread of the snails. Quarantine, a medical term (from Italian: quaranta giorni, forty days) is the act of keeping people or animals separated for a period of time before, for instance, allowing them to enter another country. ...
Nutrition The giant African snail is a macrophytophagous herbivore meaning it eats a wide range of plant material, fruit and vegetables. A deer and two fawns feeding on some foliage In zoology, an herbivore is an animal that is adapted to eat primarily plant matter (rather than meat). ...
Reproduction The giant African snail is a cross-fertilizing, egg-laying hermaphrodite. Like other land snail, they have intriguing mating behavior, including petting their heads and front parts against each other not unlike humans. The number of eggs per clutch averages around 200. A snail would lay 5-6 clutches per year with a hatching viability of about 90%. The 1st-century BC sculpture The Reclining Hermaphrodite, in the Museo Palazzo Massimo Alle Terme in Rome In zoology, a hermaphrodite is an organism of a species whose members possess both male and female sexual organs during their lives. ...
Life cycle Adult size is reached in about four months, but growth may continue slowly beyond this up to at least one and a half years.
References - Public domain information from:
- Global Invasive Species Database
- Related Disclaimer
- Snailsonline
- Achatina fulica in Captivity
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