For the identification of insects and other fauna and flora of South Africa.

Friday, July 26, 2013

Brown-lipped Agate Snail (Metachatina kraussi)

Family Achatinidae

I have never seen a snail with black skin before so this was unusual for me.


Dai Herbert says that this is a juvenile and it will get paler as it grows older.

These are the largest of our snails and can reach 16cm in shell length.

They have a wide distribution both on the Natal coast and inland.

Info: Field Guide to Land Snails and Slugs (Dai Herbert & Dick Kilburn)

2 comments:

Gaelyn said...

Whoa, that's cool. Never seen a black-skined snail.

Firefly the Travel Guy said...

These guys grow hectically huge