Achatina indotata

[brunni]

Recently the name Achatina or Archachatina indotata has appeared on the internet in reference to specimens from the Cameroon, Togo and Ghana. The identification has not been questioned, rather mimicked and propagated. As the error is snowballing I am prompted to post this stub pointing out that this species does NOT originate from West Africa and to clarify its actual status.

Achatina indotata Reeve, 1849 has been well described in the famous Conchiglia Iconica series of molluscan monographs.

Subsequently the conchologist, G.W. Tryon, revised the status of A. indotata in the second series of the American sequel of monographs devoted to the Pulmonates, Manual of Conchology. In 1905 Vol. 17 part 2 of the Achatinidae was published ( the work was completed by H.A. Pilsbry, who became a coauthor ).



As stated the locality is now amended to South Africa. In further generic sequencing Tryon introduced the subgenus Cochlitoma, that he divided into two parts; the first “group of C. semidecussata”, and the second “group of zebra”. Achatina indotata is now determined to originate from South Africa and to be affiliated to Achatina zebra (Bruguière, 1792).

In the most recent revision of the Achatinidae, Bequaert 1950:15 wrote


In 2004 A. R. Mead clarified the situation with the 25 Achatina species placed into Cochlitoma by Tryon & Pilsbry, 1905 ( beyond scope present stub but including A. indotata ).

And that should be end of story : Achatina indotata Reeve, 1849 = Achatina zebra var. tigrina (Beck, 1837) from South Africa. Nothing to do with Archachatina, at best generic placement in Cochlitoma.
We can place it here : www.petsnails.co.uk/species/achatina-zebra.html#start

…....until you google Achatina and/or Archachatina indotata...........and see completely different shells identified as A. indotata..........e.g.
www.conchology.be/?t=68&u=477409&g=3c463f6b7f9481c2c1e9bea2b88654b9&q=177ed83178d40bbc9b42b04d42a42b3e
www.conchology.be/?t=68&u=477436&g=3c463f6b7f9481c2c1e9bea2b88654b9&q=08f081f8f32516147558a008841a3d27
www.conchology.be/?t=68&u=170772&g=3c463f6b7f9481c2c1e9bea2b88654b9&q=08f081f8f32516147558a008841a3d27
www.bagniliggia.it/WMSD/HtmSpecies/3980750476.htm
www.shellauction.net/auction_shell.php?id=1031845&pres=1
Their locality Ghana, Togo, Cameroon,...........now the BIG QUESTION : what is the real identity of these West African shells ?

[brunni]

B U M P ..............many of you already got them !

[tsrebel]

I haven't seen A. indotata mentioned anywhere before; no listings for sale, no one stating that they own some. But thanks for the heads up!

[brunni]

Here are Achatinas from South Africa

1 Achatina zebra (Bruguiere, 1792) from Eastern Cape Region, RSA. Photo credit Gerrie Horn.
2 Achatina indotata Reeve, 1849 : fig.10, pl. 6 of Tryon 1905, now known to be Achatina zebra var. tigrina (Beck, 1837) also from Eastern Cape Region, RSA.

Here are Archachatinas from West Africa also said to be “A. indotata”

Note the rounded protoconch, subsutural ramp, thickened shell, different color and patterns from the first image. These are all forms of Archachatina marginata.
3 A. marginata var. suturalis Philippi, 1849 : note the rosy apex and columella
4 A. marginata Swainson 1821.
5 A. marginata var. ovum (Pfeiffer, 1879) : note apricot yellow stain on columella. Range for this form is southern Nigeria, the indication of Ghana is an error.

Take care when making identifications from various internet sites !

[vickyholt13]

Lovely info but I'm a little confused sorry ! Are you saying that a.marginata suts and the other two below are actually a. Indotata or that people are giving them other names or that they are been wrongly sold I'm a bit confused by it sorry

[muddydragon]

Lovely pictures brunni,
However could you send us some links to these sites or let us know where you've seen them incorrectly labelled for sale? I'm pretty sure noone on here has anything they're calling Achatina indotata, liekwise for other snail owning places that i am active. I'm fairly active on the majority of sites where snails are sold and also keep an eye on a number of online snail shops and i've never once seen anyone selling anything claiming to be Achatina indotata. So it would be useful to have a heads up as to where these places are, before this misidentification enters the general pet trade.

I think the vast majority of snail people would not mistake Archachatina for Achatina, and if they did as soon as they posted any pictures numerous people would call them up on it. I know i would i was about to point out that the bottom left and right pictures are obviously Archachatina marginata suturalis and Archachatina marginata ovum with some other form of Archachatina in the centre until i realised you knew that and were using it as an example or species people are calling Achatina indotata

Vicky: he's saying only number two is truely Achatina indotata (which also has other names) and people have been calling the other species shown Achatina indotata too.

*edit* sorry brunni just seen you have posted some links pointing out where shells have been misidentified. So far the misidentification only seems to be in the shell rather than pet trade, so hopefully it's unlikely to spread. I think snail owners are more likely to recognise these misidentifications, but thanks for the heads up so we are aware incase it starts to trickle into the pet trade

[brunni]

Thanks muddydagon and vickyholt13 for those comments.
The errors were initiated on a website selling shells ( not pet trade ) but have already been copied from there to other sites such as WMSDB : Worldwide Mollusc Species Data Base
www.bagniliggia.it/WMSD/HtmFamily/ACHATINIDAEN.htm#ACHATININAE
This site aims to to be an online identification platform.

In the shell trade an old trick to get unsold stocks moving is to either give it a new name or different locality.

[vickyholt13]

Thanks for clearing it up muddydragon and thanks Brunni for makes us aware of this its useful to know if it does pop up thank you

[brunni]

Here's more wrong online information ,this time Wikipedia.
Makes you wonder the caliber of expertise necessary to establish a leading worldwide encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achatina_achatina


Click the image to get more details : "Giant Tiger Land Snail; Length 15 cm; Originating from Ghana".
To me it looks like one of the shells mentioned in my recent mail above, referred to as "A. indotata".
What do you think, is this really Achatina achatina ?  Is it even an Achatina ?

[muddydragon]

geeze!
Can you report it atall? i'm not very good with wikipedia but i know its possible to edit the text. maybe someone could edit the text to say the picture shown is not Achatina achatina

is it actually a particularly dark patterned Archachatina marginata ovum?

[brunni]

Exactly Muddydrgon This is an exceptionally dark patterned specimen of Archachatina marginata var. ovum (Pfeiffer, 1879). Note the intense apricot stain on the columella; this form of A. marginata is only found in southern Nigeria.

I will not edit Wikipedia text, and doubt if they allow it, but anybody wants to try, please go ahead. On top right side is a window “View history”, click it and you can find near the bottom User: Invertzoo. Click that and you find her page : Some people call me "The Snail Lady", or "The Shell Lady" : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Invertzoo

The Americans have this thing about invasive species, so down the bottom you find almost half the references are about invasive or alien species ( i.e. Achatina fulica ). But a feather in our cap, n°. 3 of their references is currently this excellent one where you can find A. achatina correctly illustrated : www.petsnails.co.uk/species/achatina-achatina.html#start

[brunni]

Wikipedia do not own these images, Wikimedia Commons is a media file repository making available public domain...media content... to everyone.
This particular image belongs to : commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Llez/Shells_by_H._Zell
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