''Pomacea haustrum'',

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 titan applesnail, is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

of large

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, the applesnails.

Original description

''Pomacea haustrum'' was originally described under the name ''Ampullaria haustrum'' by

Lovell Augustus Reeve Lovell Augustus Reeve (19 April 1814 – 18 November 1865) was an English conchologist and publisher. Life Born at Ludgate Hill, London, on 19 April 1814, he was the son of Thomas Reeve, draper and mercer, and Fanny Reeve, née Lovell. After ...

in his book '' Conchologia Iconica'', in 1856. In Reeve's original text, (the

type description A species description is a formal scientific description of a newly encountered species, typically articulated through a scientific publication. Its purpose is to provide a clear description of a new species of organism and explain how it differ ...

) reads as follows: It is difficult to identify even the general region of the type locality for this species. The type locality was given as the

Río Marañón Rio or Río is the Portuguese and Spanish word for "river". The word also exists in Italian, but is largely obsolete and used in a poetical or literary context to mean "stream". Rio, RIO or Río may also refer to: Places United States * Rio, Fl ...

, Brazil, but this river is in Peru, joining with the Rio Ucayali above

Iquitos Iquitos (; ) is the capital city of Peru's Maynas Province, Peru, Maynas Province and Loreto Region. It is the largest metropolis in the Peruvian Amazon, east of the Andes, as well as the List of cities in Peru, ninth-most populous city in Peru ...

to become the Rio Solimões, which in turn joins with the Rio Negro to become the Amazon River of Brazil. Some of the first Europeans to explore the region in the sixteenth century, however, referred to the Amazon River as El Río Marañón, and some nineteenth century maps refer to the entire Amazon as the Marañón. It is likely that the Río Marañón of one collector was not the same as the Río Marañón of another. It was considered a synonym of ''

Pomacea canaliculata ''Pomacea canaliculata'', commonly known as the golden apple snail or the channeled apple snail, is a species of large freshwater snail with gills and an operculum, an aquatic gastropod mollusc in the family Ampullariidae, the apple snails. S ...

'' by Thompson (1997) based on shell morphology, but tentatively retained as a separate species by Cowie & Thiengo,Cowie R. H. & Thiengo S. C. (2003) "The apple snails of the Americas (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Ampullariidae: ''Asolene'', ''Felipponea'', ''Marisa'', ''Pomacea'', ''Pomella''): a nomenclatural and type catalog". ''

Malacologia ''Malacologia'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal in the field of malacology, the study of mollusks. The journal publishes articles in the fields of molluscan systematics, ecology, population ecology, genetics, molecular genetics, evolution, an ...

'' 45: 41-100. because of its reported production of green eggs. Phylogenetic analyses by Rawlings et al. (2007) confirmed its species status.

Shell description

''Pomacea haustrum'' is a large species that has a large globular

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 ...

with a channeled suture.

Distribution

The indigenous distribution of ''Pomacea haustrum'' is

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

and

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

in South America. The nonindigenous distribution includes the United States:

Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge The Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge is a wildlife sanctuary is located west of Boynton Beach, Florida, Boynton Beach, in Palm Beach County, Florida, Palm Beach County, Florida. It is also known as Water Conservation Are ...

waters in Palm Beach County, Florida. ''Pomacea haustrum'' were discovered in the late 1970s in Palm Beach County Florida, and have not spread appreciably in 30 years. This is the only known area where this species is established in the United States. The initial introduction in the United States was probably from aquarium release, aka "aquarium dumping". ''Pomacea haustrum'' is currently of relatively minor concern in the U.S., given its failure to spread beyond Palm Beach County after 30 years or more in Florida. However, many species have maintained limited distributions, sometimes for decades, before becoming invasive.

Ecology

Habitat

This species lives in freshwater rivers.

Life cycle

Populations of ''Pomacea haustrum'' in Florida produce bright green egg masses consisting of individual eggs approximately 3–5 mm in size compressed into polygonal shapes, giving the egg mass an irregular honeycombed appearance. Since other ''Pomacea'' species also produce green eggs, this character is insufficient to verify this species as ''Pomacea haustrum''. It lays its eggs in clutches above the water level.

References

This article incorporates a

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no Exclusive exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly Waiver, waived, or may be inapplicable. Because no one holds ...

work of the United States Government A work of the United States government is defined by the United States copyright law of the United States, copyright law, as "a work prepared by an officer or employee of the United States Government as part of that person's official duties".: ...

from the reference Benson A. (2008). "''Pomacea haustrum''".

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: 8/14/2007 and CC-BY-2.0 text from the reference.