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Malaysian trumpet snail (Melanoides tuberculata)

Malaysian trumpet snail Description: Imported by the aquarium industry as early as the 1930s.

Identification: Elongate, conical shell with as many as 10 whorls, usually light brown marked with rust colored spots. Operculum present and growing between 40-80 mm.

Habitat: Native to northern Africa to southern Asia. Found most often in rivers and streams and prefers slow moving or stagnant water.

Reproduction: Parthenogenetic and ovoviparous; females reproduce individually without males. Eggs hatch inside of the mother and the newborn young continue to grow in brood pouch, which can hold up to 64 embryos. Eggs are 60-90 im in diameter.

Impact and Damage: Can outcompete native snail populations, known to cause many local extinctions of native snails including Biomphalaria. They are also the intermediate host for the parasitic human lung fluke.

Similar species: Often confused with the Quilted melania (Tarebia granifera) but can be distinguished by the presence of rusty colored spots.

Monitoring and rapid response: No known control methods.

Credits: The information provided in this factsheet was gathered from the US Army Corps of Engineers Environmental Laboratory and the USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species database.

Individual species images that appear with a number in a black box are courtesy of the Bugwood.org network (http://www.invasive.org).Individual photo author credits may not be included due to the small display size of the images and subsequent difficulty of reading the provided text. All other images appear courtesy of Google (http://images.google.com).


Common Name:

Malaysian trumpet snail

Scientific Name:

Melanoides tuberculata

Family:

Thiaridae
(Gastropod)

Habit:

Mollusks