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Pomacea paludosa
Encyclopedia
Pomacea paludosa, common name
the Florida applesnail, is a species of freshwater snail
with an operculum
, an aquatic
gastropod mollusk in the family Ampullariidae
, the apple snails.
The shell
is globose in shape. The whorls
are wide, the spire
is depressed, and the aperature
is narrowly oval. The shells are brown in color, and have a pattern of stripes.
The shell is 60 mm in both length and width.
, Cuba
and Hispaniola
.
The nonindigenous distribution includes northern Florida. The species has also been found in Georgia
, Oahu
, Hawaii
(Devick 1991), Louisiana
, and Oklahoma
.
, and can survive in water bodies that dry out during the dry season.
Applesnails have both gills and lungs.
Common name
A common name of a taxon or organism is a name in general use within a community; it is often contrasted with the scientific name for the same organism...
the Florida applesnail, is a species of freshwater snail
Snail
Snail is a common name applied to most of the members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have coiled shells in the adult stage. When the word is used in its most general sense, it includes sea snails, land snails and freshwater snails. The word snail without any qualifier is however more often...
with an operculum
Operculum (gastropod)
The operculum, meaning little lid, is a corneous or calcareous anatomical structure which exists in many groups of sea snails and freshwater snails, and also in a few groups of land snails...
, an aquatic
Aquatic animal
An aquatic animal is an animal, either vertebrate or invertebrate, which lives in water for most or all of its life. It may breathe air or extract its oxygen from that dissolved in water through specialised organs called gills, or directly through its skin. Natural environments and the animals that...
gastropod mollusk in the family Ampullariidae
Ampullariidae
Ampullariidae, common name the apple snails, is a family of large freshwater snails, aquatic gastropod mollusks with a gill and an operculum...
, the apple snails.
Shell description
This species is the largest freshwater gastropod native to North America.The shell
Gastropod shell
The gastropod shell is a shell which is part of the body of a gastropod or snail, one kind of mollusc. The gastropod shell is an external skeleton or exoskeleton, which serves not only for muscle attachment, but also for protection from predators and from mechanical damage...
is globose in shape. The whorls
Whorl (mollusc)
A whorl is a single, complete 360° revolution or turn in the spiral growth of a mollusc shell. A spiral configuration of the shell is found in of numerous gastropods, but it is also found in shelled cephalopods including Nautilus, Spirula and the large extinct subclass of cephalopods known as the...
are wide, the spire
Spire (mollusc)
A spire is a descriptive term for part of the coiled shell of mollusks. The word is a convenient aid in describing shells, but it does not refer to a very precise part of shell anatomy: the spire consists of all of the whorls except for the body whorl...
is depressed, and the aperature
Aperture (mollusc)
The aperture is an opening in certain kinds of mollusc shells: it is the main opening of the shell, where part of the body of the animal emerges for locomotion, feeding, etc....
is narrowly oval. The shells are brown in color, and have a pattern of stripes.
The shell is 60 mm in both length and width.
Distribution
The indigenous distribution of this snail is central and southern FloridaFlorida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
and Hispaniola
Hispaniola
Hispaniola is a major island in the Caribbean, containing the two sovereign states of the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The island is located between the islands of Cuba to the west and Puerto Rico to the east, within the hurricane belt...
.
The nonindigenous distribution includes northern Florida. The species has also been found in Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
, Oahu
Oahu
Oahu or Oahu , known as "The Gathering Place", is the third largest of the Hawaiian Islands and most populous of the islands in the U.S. state of Hawaii. The state capital Honolulu is located on the southeast coast...
, Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
(Devick 1991), Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
, and Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
.
Ecology
This is a tropical species. It is amphibiousAmphibious
Amphibious means able to use either land or water. In particular it may refer to:*Amphibious warfare, warfare carried out on both land and water*Amphibians, vertebrate animals of the Class Amphibia...
, and can survive in water bodies that dry out during the dry season.
Applesnails have both gills and lungs.
Further reading
- McClary, A. 1962. Surface inspiration and ciliary feeding in Pomacea paludosa (Prosobranchia: Mesogastropoda: Ampullariidae). Malacologia, 2(1): 87-104.
- Philip C. Darby, Robert E. Bennetts, Jason D. Croop, Patricia L. Valentine-Darby and Wiley M. Kitchens A Comparison of Sampling Techniques for Quantifying Abundance of the Florida Apple Snail (Pomacea Paludosa Say). J. Moll. Stud. (1999), 65, 195-208.
- Philip C. Darby, Patricia L. Valentine-Darby, H. Franklin Percival & Wiley M. Kitchens. Collecting Florida applesnails (Pomacea paludosa) from wetland habitats using funnel traps. Wetlands. Volume 21, Issue 2 (June 2001): 308–311.
- Robert B.E. Shuford III, Paul V. McCormick & Jennifer Magson. Habitat related growth of juvenile Florida applesnails (Pomacea paludosa). Florida Scientist. Volume 68, Issue 1 (March 2005): 11–19.
- Bruce Sharfstein & Alan D. Steinman. Growth and survival of the Florida apple snail (Pomacea paludosa) fed 3 naturally occurring macrophyte assemblages. Journal of the North American Benthological Society, Volume 20, Issue 1 (March 2001): 84–95.
- Applesnails of Florida on the UFUniversity of FloridaThe University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
/ IFASInstitute of Food and Agricultural SciencesThe University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences is a federal-state-county partnership dedicated to developing knowledge in agriculture, human and natural resources, and the life sciences, and enhancing and sustaining the quality of human life by making that information...
Featured Creatures Web site - The applesnails of Florida
- Apple Snail Habitat Suitability Index
- http://nis.gsmfc.org/nis_factsheet.php?toc_id=155
- http://www.applesnail.net/content/species/pomacea_paludosa.htm