page_title: Pomacea maculata
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Pomacea maculata / Description
caption_attribution_description: English: photo of shell of Pomacea insularum. Scale Bar: 5 cm.
context_page_description: Pomacea maculata is a species of large freshwater snail with an operculum, an aquatic gastropod mollusk in the family Ampullariidae, the apple snails.
  Common name of its synonymous name Pomacea insularum is the island applesnail.
  Together with Pomacea canaliculata it is the most invasive species of the family Ampullariidae. It is considered as about the 58th the worst alien species in Europe.
context_section_description: This snail species was described by Georges Perry in March 1810. Perry also created the genus Pomacea, and Pomacea maculata was described as the type of species.
  The snail can grow up to 15 centimeters in size. The eyes are just below the antennae. The colour of the shell varies from a pale olive green to a darker green, with dark bands across the shell. The shell is quite thin compared to other family members of the apple snail family. The inside has dark spots (maculata means spotted or stained).
  The shells of these applesnails are globular in shape. Normal coloration typically includes bands of brown, black, and yellowish-tan. Color patterns are however extremely variable, and both albino and gold color variations exist.
  The size of the shell is up to 150 mm in length.
  Pomacea maculata individuals can be difficult to differentiate morphologically from Pomacea canaliculata (but egg masses are strikingly different to a trained observer).
  The color of the visible soft parts is grey-brown with dark spots.
caption: Two views of a shells of Pomacea maculata. Scale bar is 5 cm.
exif: {}