Pomacea paludosa

Pomacea paludosa
Temporal range: Pliocene-present
Colored engraving of a live Pomacea paludosa made by Helen Lawson († 1854) and published in 1845 A monograph of the freshwater univalve Mollusca of the United States: including notices of species in other parts of North America by Samuel Stehman Haldeman.
Secure
Secure (NatureServe)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Subclass: Caenogastropoda
Order: Architaenioglossa
Family: Ampullariidae
Genus: Pomacea
Species:
P. paludosa
Binomial name
Pomacea paludosa
(Say, 1829)
Synonyms
  • Ampullaria caliginosa Reeve, 1856
  • Ampullaria depressa Say, 1824 (invalid: junior homonym of Ampullaria depressa Lamarck, 1804; A. paludosa is a replacement name)
  • Ampullaria hopetonensis I. Lea, 1834
  • Ampullaria miamiensis Pilsbry, 1899
  • Ampullaria paludosa Say, 1829 (original combination)
  • Ampullaria pinei Dall, 1898 (junior synonym)
  • Pomacea (Pomacea) paludosa (Say, 1829) · accepted, alternate representation
  • Pomacea paludosa flava M. Smith, 1937

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.

Shell description

Five views of a shell of Pomacea paludosa

This species is the largest freshwater gastropod native to North America.

The shell is globose in shape. The whorls are wide, the spire is depressed, and the aperture is narrowly oval. The shells are brown in color, and have a pattern of stripes.

The shell is 60 millimetres (2.4 in) in both length and width.

Distribution

The indigenous distribution of this snail is central and southern Florida, Cuba and Hispaniola.

The nonindigenous distribution includes northern Florida. The species has also been found in Georgia, Oahu, Hawaii (Devick 1991)[citation needed], Louisiana, and Oklahoma.

Ecology

The maturation of eggs of Pomacea paludosa: freshly laid eggs in a thick mucus matrix have a salmon coloration (left). Mature eggs in calcified shells are pinkish white in color (right).

This is a tropical species. It is amphibious, and can survive in water bodies that dry out during the dry season.

Applesnails have both gills and lungs.

References

  1. ↑ Cordeiro, J. & Perez, K. (2011). "Pomacea paludosa". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2011 e.T189339A8718219. IUCN. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2011-2.RLTS.T189339A8718219.en. Retrieved 21 July 2022.
  2. ↑ NatureServe. "Pomacea paludosa". NatureServe Explorer. Arlington, Virginia. Retrieved 4 March 2026.
  3. ↑ MolluscaBase eds. "Pomacea paludosa (Say, 1829)". MolluscaBase. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Burch, J. B. 1982. North American freshwater snails. Walkerana 1(4):217-365.
  5. ↑ Thompson, F.G. 1984. The freshwater snails of Florida: a manual for identification. University of Florida Press, Gainesville, Florida, 94 pp.
  6. 1 2 Dundee, D. S. 1974. Catalog of introduced molluscs of eastern North America (north of Mexico). Sterkiana 55:1-37.

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Further reading