Identifying snail species?

[serenesarong]

I recently re-entered the world of snail keeping with one Achatina Fulica (after having a couple of them as a teen. After about three months of having Arthur, I now have acquired seven more GALS, but I am not sure when buying how to identify the different species! I am lucky that so far the people I have bought them from have known (seemingly) what species they are (I hope). Currently I have...

Arthur - Achatina Fulica (I assume, he was pet shop bought and so was labelled as 'African Land Snail')

Osiris, Isis and Guinevere - Achatina Fulica (Albino bodied var.) I don't know if these have a proper latin name or not?

Aragorn and Arwen - Achatina Albopicta

Orion and Cassiopeia - Achatina Iredalei.

I am also considering getting two Acatina Fulica Jadatzi, but am somewhat confused as to the difference between Jadatzi, Rodatzi and Hamilli

The world of snails is a lot more complicated than it seemed when I was 13!

Kate

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[foghog]

heh, yes indeed. you can start by going here: www.petsnails.co.uk/documents/species/id-your-snail.html

hope it helps.

[heydihoo]

Jadatzi is full albino which is plain shell and white body, rodatzi is albino shelled normal coloured skin and hamelli is a normal looking fulica that can produce rodatzi snails

[wolf]

Hi,
sorry for some marginal remarks:
“hamillei” was described as a true species by E. Smith in 1881. At that time it was therefore called “Achatina hamillei”, differing from Achatina fulica mainly in a smaller hight to width – ratio (kind of “bulbous” shell, whereas A. fulica being more slender). Furthermore, in A. hamillei the streaks on the last whorl tend to fuse, so that the ultimate whorl becomes rather dark. In later years, hamillei became a subspecies of A. fulica.
As A. fulica fulica and A. fulica hamillei can produce fertile outcome and lots of cross breedings should have happened in the last years all over Europe, I doubt that every “rodatzi” belongs to the subspecies “hamillei” any more. I suppose that the allels (concerning one or even more genes!) associated with the “rodatzi” phenotype have mixed up within the gene pool of A. fulica fulica in captivity.
Kind regards: wolf

[serenesarong]

So, if I've understood this right...

A. Fulica Fulica is the 'normal' East African Land snail that doesn't produce Rodatzi young,
A. Fulica Hamillei is a 'normal' looking land snail that does produce Rodatzi young (but the distinction between these could be a bit blurry through cross breeding over the years?)
A. Fulica Rodatzi is a pale shelled variant with dark body
A. Fulica Jadatzi is the pale shelled variant with a white body...?

So does the albino bodied 'normal' shelled (Albino -jade) var. have a posh latin name?

I still think this is easier to get my head around than the colour variations (and naming thereof) of the Pomacea Bridgesii (apple snails) whose colours depend on three variables (shell base colour, shell stripe colour and snail body colour)... now THAT is confusing!

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[heydihoo]

yes tahts right

[wolf]

Hi serenesarong,

"A. fulica hamillei" is an "official" scientific name (subspecies of A. fulica), as well as "A. fulica hamillei f. rodatzi" (rodatzi being a forma = f. of hamillei). "White Jade" and "Jadatzi" are unofficial, colloquial names, because they are not yet described and published in a scientific paper (as far as I know, at least........).
It´s kind of tricky sometimes to differentiate between A. fulica fulica and A. fulica hamillei. In some cases it might be difficult to decide whether the last whorl is "bulbous" enough and the dark streaks on the last whorl are fused enough to call a specimen "hamillei".

Initially, the "rodatzi mutation" occurred in the subspecies "hamillei", but due to many cross breedings I suppose that the genetic information (= alleles) which lead to the rodatzi phenotype (unstreaked shell) have invaded the normal Achatina fulica fulica population. So it should be possible that two normal looking Achatina fulica fulica, both heterozygous for rodatzi, can lead to snails with rodatzi phenotype progeny.

The inheritance mechanism of rodatzi is not solved, at least to my knowledge. There might be more than one gene involved (because some people got streaked offspring out of a rodatzi x rodatzi breeding - but: I don´t know whether these findings are "valid"...... ).

Kind regards : wolf

[latebloomer]

One of the shell colours mentioned was "yellow striped" which would that be? I would like to find one if they were for sale.