''Pomacea paludosa'',

common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often con ...

the Florida applesnail, is a species of

freshwater snail Freshwater snails are gastropod mollusks that live in fresh water. There are many different families. They are found throughout the world in various habitats, ranging from ephemeral pools to the largest lakes, and from small seeps and springs t ...

with an operculum, an

aquatic Aquatic means relating to water; living in or near water or taking place in water; does not include groundwater, as "aquatic" implies an environment where plants and animals live. Aquatic(s) may also refer to: * Aquatic animal, either vertebrate ...

gastropod Gastropods (), commonly known as slugs and snails, belong to a large Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, freshwater, and fro ...

mollusk Mollusca is a phylum of protostomic invertebrate animals, whose members are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 76,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized, making it the second-largest animal phylum after Arthropoda. The ...

in the family

Ampullariidae Ampullariidae, whose members are commonly known as apple snails, is a family of large freshwater snails that includes the mystery snail species. They are aquatic gastropod mollusks with a gill and an operculum. These snails simultaneously h ...

, the

apple snail Ampullariidae, whose members are commonly known as apple snails, is a family of large freshwater snails that includes the mystery snail species. They are aquatic gastropod mollusks with a gill and an operculum. These snails simultaneously h ...

Shell description

This species is the largest freshwater gastropod native to North America.Burch, J. B. 1982. ''North American freshwater snails''. Walkerana 1(4):217-365. The

shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses Science Biology * Seashell, a hard outer layer of a marine ani ...

is globose in shape. The

whorls A whorl ( or ) is an individual circle, oval, volution or equivalent in a whorled pattern, which consists of a spiral or multiple concentric objects (including circles, ovals and arcs). In nature File:Photograph and axial plane floral diagram ...

are wide, the

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spire ...

is depressed, and the

aperture In optics, the aperture of an optical system (including a system consisting of a single lens) is the hole or opening that primarily limits light propagated through the system. More specifically, the entrance pupil as the front side image o ...

is narrowly oval. The shells are brown in color, and have a pattern of stripes. The shell is in both length and width.

Distribution

The indigenous distribution of this snail is central and southern

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

,Thompson, F.G. 1984.
The freshwater snails of Florida: a manual for identification.
' University of Florida Press, Gainesville, Florida, 94 pp.

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

and

Hispaniola Hispaniola (, also ) is an island between Geography of Cuba, Cuba and Geography of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean. Hispaniola is the most populous island in the West Indies, and the second-largest by List of C ...

.Dundee, D. S. 1974. ''Catalog of introduced molluscs of eastern North America (north of Mexico)''. Sterkiana 55:1-37. The nonindigenous distribution includes northern Florida. The species has also been found in

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

Oahu Oahu (, , sometimes written Oahu) is the third-largest and most populated island of the Hawaiian Islands and of the U.S. state of Hawaii. The state capital, Honolulu, is on Oahu's southeast coast. The island of Oahu and the uninhabited Northwe ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

(Devick 1991),

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

, and

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

Ecology

This is a tropical species. It is

amphibious Amphibious means able to use either land or water. In particular it may refer to: Animals * Amphibian, a vertebrate animal of the class Amphibia (many of which live on land and breed in water) * Amphibious caterpillar * Amphibious fish, a fish ...

, and can survive in water bodies that dry out during the dry season. Applesnails have both gills and lungs.

References

* Applesnails of Florida Pomacea spp. (Gastropoda: Ampullariidae) This article incorporates public domain text from: * A. Benson. 2008. ''Pomacea paludosa''.

USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an government agency, agency of the United States Department of the Interior, U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geograp ...

Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database, Gainesville, FL. Revision Date: 4/24/2006

* 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. * Posch H., Garr A. L. & Reynolds E. (2013). "The presence of an exotic snail, ''Pomacea maculata'', inhibits growth of juvenile Florida apple snails, ''Pomacea paludosa''". ''

Journal of Molluscan Studies The ''Journal of Molluscan Studies'' is the peer-reviewed scientific journal of the Malacological Society of London, covering research in malacology.

'' 79(4): 383-385. .
Applesnails of Florida
on the UF / IFAS Featured Creatures Web site
The applesnails of Florida

* https://web.archive.org/web/20060923125401/http://nis.gsmfc.org/nis_factsheet.php?toc_id=155 * http://www.applesnail.net/content/species/pomacea_paludosa.htm {{Taxonbar, from=Q3142468 paludosa Gastropods described in 1829 Fauna of the Southeastern United States

Shell description

Distribution

Ecology

References

Further reading