Archachatina bicarinata

Archachatina bicarinata
Shell of Archachatina bicarinata from Príncipe Island
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
(unranked): clade Heterobranchia

clade Euthyneura
clade Panpulmonata
clade Eupulmonata
clade Stylommatophora
informal group Sigmurethra

Superfamily: Achatinoidea
Family: Achatinidae
Genus: Archachatina
Species: A. bicarinata
Binomial name
Archachatina bicarinata
Synonyms
  • Archachatina sinistrorsa Pfeiffer, 1848[2]

Archachatina bicarinata is a species of air-breathing tropical land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Achatinidae.

Description

Shell of Archachatina bicarinata can reach a length of 117–135 millimetres (4.6–5.3 in).[2] This giant shell is always sinistral or reverse-coiled (hence the synonym Archachatina sinistrorsa).

Distribution

This species is endemic to São Tomé and Príncipe, off the west coast of Africa in the Gulf of Guinea.

Habitat

This species lives in the primary rainforest on the mountains. Due to the habitat loss, the mass-collecting of the shells and the harvesting of the snails for food Archachatina bicarinata is a declining species, classified as vulnerable.

References

  1. ↑ Clarke, D. & Naggs, F. 1996. Archachatina bicarinata. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Archived June 27, 2014, at the Wayback Machine. Downloaded on 6 August 2007.
  2. 1 2 Worldwide Mollusc Data Base

Bibliography

  • Martin Dallimer and Martim Melo. Rapid decline of the endemic giant land snail Archachatina bicarinata on the island of Principe, Gulf of Guinea. Oryx. 2010.
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