Kevin
Archachatina dimidiata
Posts: 2,227
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Post by Kevin on Nov 4, 2005 13:06:33 GMT
Received a large parcel of different inverts from Belgium today, including lots of colourful Beetles, the largest Millipedes, and most colourful Centipede Ive ever seen and one snail ;D I ordered it as an Archachatina purpurea, he told me he got it from a friend, and was told it had been identified as purpurea, I'll get pictures of it later, the columella is purple, its only about 5cm shell size.
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apple
Archachatina degneri
Posts: 1,078
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Post by apple on Nov 4, 2005 14:10:23 GMT
Great!
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Nov 4, 2005 15:35:25 GMT
wooooh green snail!
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Post by anjieburdett on Nov 4, 2005 16:18:33 GMT
Oh wow!! Can't wait to see the pics There was a bit of confusion as to whether my Mr Chubbs was a Purpurea or a ummm ventricosa var. speculatum. It will be nice to see what yours looks like. Anjie,x.
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Kevin
Archachatina dimidiata
Posts: 2,227
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Post by Kevin on Nov 4, 2005 17:41:26 GMT
The columella is more purple than in the pic (if that makes sense)
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Post by anjieburdett on Nov 4, 2005 17:50:55 GMT
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Kevin
Archachatina dimidiata
Posts: 2,227
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Post by Kevin on Nov 4, 2005 17:57:51 GMT
Mines only about 5cm, he has a slight texture to his shell, not like my adult reticulata's though, my small reticulata's (at around 6cm) has no texture to they're shell at all, they're shell is smooth..Unlike all my marginata this snail has a purple columella
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Post by anjieburdett on Nov 4, 2005 18:03:00 GMT
I just refered to Reticulata to give you an idea what the shell reticulations were like - i wasn't saying he was one ;D I was just saying that he doesn't look like Chubbs.
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Post by natrat84 on Nov 4, 2005 18:07:03 GMT
It looks very margie-like.
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Kevin
Archachatina dimidiata
Posts: 2,227
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Post by Kevin on Nov 4, 2005 18:12:22 GMT
I just refered to Reticulata to give you an idea what the shell reticulations were like - i wasn't saying he was one ;D I was just saying that he doesn't look like Chubbs. I was suggesting that my young reticulata all have a smooth shell, and that it may be the case with my purpurea, getting a more textured shell when he's adult.
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Kevin
Archachatina dimidiata
Posts: 2,227
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Post by Kevin on Nov 4, 2005 18:15:56 GMT
Heres an adult purpurea shell, it looks "margie like" to me. I cant find any pics of small purpurea to compare with, I know purpurea have a purple columella though, like my snail.
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Post by anjieburdett on Nov 4, 2005 18:22:18 GMT
Maybe - i'm no expert. Just comparing pictures.
Anjie,x.
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Post by anjieburdett on Nov 4, 2005 18:24:03 GMT
Maybe Chubbs is a ventricosa var. speculatum after all.
Anjie,x.
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Kevin
Archachatina dimidiata
Posts: 2,227
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Post by Kevin on Nov 4, 2005 18:28:27 GMT
Maybe - i'm no expert. Just comparing pictures. Anjie,x. Ive found that GALS can very very variable, so many of them look similar to either fulica's or margies ;D I thought my one in this thread looked just like a margie when I first looked at him, his columella is a nice purple colour though, the person I got him from also sells margies, and had told he the one I bought was a purpurea.
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Post by anjieburdett on Nov 4, 2005 18:56:09 GMT
Yeah but you can't ID on columella alone. There are cross breeds of all kinds and that makes it really difficult. Also just because someone tells you its a certain species doesn't mean it is! Look at poor minimadmum (hope i got your name right hehe) and her 'Tigers'. I was going to send some photo's of Chubbs to the Natural History Museum to see what they thought he was - maybe i'll get round to that at some point ;D lol. Anjie,x.
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Kevin
Archachatina dimidiata
Posts: 2,227
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Post by Kevin on Nov 4, 2005 19:06:16 GMT
Yeah but you can't ID on columella alone. There are cross breeds of all kinds and that makes it really difficult. Also just because someone tells you its a certain species doesn't mean it is! Look at poor minimadmum (hope i got your name right hehe) and her 'Tigers'. I know its lots of factors to identify a species, but columella colour seems a much better way than comparing to a single picture, especially since snails within a species can look so different to each other, in shell pattern and shape, but the columella colour is almost always the same within a species isnt it? apart from the marginata variants? I mean you cant have a fulica with a pink/purple columella, or a panthera with a white columella? so it seems more reliable for ID'ing. I think my snail is wild caught, so the possibility of it being a cross-bred with another Archachatina is less-likely I know I cant go on what this person is saying either, but he does keep a lot of margies, marginata ssp, fulica, fulica rodatzi, tigers etc, and was told by a second person that its a purpurea, if I found a picture of a juvenile purpurea that may help.
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Post by Paul on Nov 4, 2005 19:49:44 GMT
You can't tell for certain if it is a purpurea or a ventricosa speculatum until it is older, they both are purple-mouthed snails, the inside of the outer edge gets a purple line. However both purpurea and ventricosa speculatum should be showing the shell texture early on, there are pics of babies smaller than yours in the Bequaert book which show this. You'd have to compare it with your margies. Margies have a criss-cross sculpture and the others don't.
But there are margies with violet/purple columellas; egregiella, egregia and grevillei can have violaceous/vinaceous columella. Egregia has a a broad, vinaceous-red inner margin of the shell lip to complicate matters.
So really adult size, columella colour and inner shell lip margin colour help but it seems the best way to differentiate between margies and other Archachatina is the cross-weave texture.
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Kevin
Archachatina dimidiata
Posts: 2,227
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Post by Kevin on Nov 4, 2005 19:59:41 GMT
You can't tell for certain if it is a purpurea or a ventricosa speculatum until it is older, they both are purple-mouthed snails, the inside of the outer edge gets a purple line. However both purpurea and ventricosa speculatum should be showing the shell texture early on, there are pics of babies smaller in the Bequaert book which show this. You'd have to compare it with your margies. Margies have a criss-cross sculpture and the others don't. But there are margies with violet/purple columellas; egregiella, egregia and grevillei can have violaceous/vinaceous columella. Egregia has a a broad, vinaceous-red inner margin of the shell lip to complicate matters. So really adult size, columella colour and inner shell lip margin colour help but it seems the best way to differentiate between margies and other Archachatina is the cross-weave texture. Im confused by what you mean with the cross-weave texture?
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Post by anjieburdett on Nov 4, 2005 20:01:37 GMT
I was going to ask you that Kevin, can you see inside the shell lip to see what colour it is? It was really difficult with Chubbs, i didn't want to push the mantel back too far incase i hurt him, but i didn't have to that much.
Anjie,x.
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Kevin
Archachatina dimidiata
Posts: 2,227
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Post by Kevin on Nov 4, 2005 20:06:27 GMT
I was going to ask you that Kevin, can you see inside the shell lip to see what colour it is? It was really difficult with Chubbs, i didn't want to push the mantel back too far incase i hurt him, but i didn't have to that much. Anjie,x. Inside the shell lip is transparent...I think the colour, and even the stripe on the outside of the shell-lip shows through to the inside, I think he's suffered bad shell growth near his lip of his shell, its uneven, and not very strong compared to other snails I have that size.
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Post by anjieburdett on Nov 4, 2005 20:18:17 GMT
The inside of the shell lip on Chubbs is dark purple/deep pink...but do Purpurea/Ventricosa var. Speculatum not get that until they are older?? Is that what you mean Paul?
The weird texture on Chubbs' shell starts on the 2nd whorl from the tip, but gets more pronounced in the next whorl along - i've never seen another shell like it, you could never buff it up with oil and make it shiny lol.
Anjie,x.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Nov 4, 2005 20:43:01 GMT
anjie - im 99% sure chubbs is ventricosa speculatum, purpurea shells just arent that dark green.
kevin - not all the pupurea were really green-shelled, and many snails look so different young to when they are adults. furthermore, the columellar and palatal wall pigmentation is less prominent in young snails and becomes more so with age.
i think he has a nice shell ;D
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Post by anjieburdett on Nov 4, 2005 20:56:00 GMT
Yeah i was thinking so too Mikey MooMoo, how big do they get?
Anjie,x.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Nov 4, 2005 21:12:30 GMT
i think around 10cm, maybe a bit bigger...
kevin - can you take a pic of the purpurea when it's body has come out?
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