Giant African Land Snail (Achatina fulica)

OTHER NAMES: Giant African Snail
Latin Etymology: Achatina ("agate") fulica ("coot")

Adult Giant African Land Snail (Achatina fulica) at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - July 2016

Featured Subspecies: ?
Weight: ?  /  Length: 20cm
NOT PRESENT IN UK / IUCN Red List: Not Yet Evaluated 


One of the largest of all terrestrial snails, the Giant African Land Snail originated in Kenya and Tanzania, but has become established around the tropics due to human involvements.  They have various negative reprecussions although arguably human attempts to control them are even more catastropic - releasing wolfsnails onto Tahiti to control this species instead resulted in the extinction of around 50 indigenous snail species.

Related Species:
Order: Achatinoidea
Family: Achatinidae
Genus: Achatina
SUBSPECIES: A. f. hamillei, A. f. rodatzi, A. f. sinistrosa, A. f. umbilicata

 - Sighting Locations -

MALAYSIA - Malay - ?

An introduced species, now fairly common.

 - MALAYSIA/SINGAPORE 2016 TRIP: One in Kuala Lumpur

Further Notes: BirdForum Opus, IUCN Red List, RSPB, Wikipedia, Xeno-canto