Abstract

The Giant African Land Snail is one of the largest land snails in the world. In Nigeria, farmers still can not identify the breed Archachatina marginata (Am) and its varieties. In this study, Archachatina marginata varieties were characterized using qualitative characters. A total of 304 animals comprising of 93 Archachatina marginata marginata (Amm), 163 Archachatina marginata suturalis (Ams) and 48 Archachatina marginata ovum (Amo) was used. Five qualitative parameters were collected on each snail and recorded. These parameters are shape of snail (SS), shell colour (SC), colour of labium (CL), foot colour (FC), number of whorls (NW). Data were analysed using simple descriptive statistics; frequency counts and percentages. The orange labium was more than white labium. 87.0%, 86.50%, 77.08% was orange labium in Amm, Ams and Amo respectively. 70.96% of Amm had brown foot, 54.16% of Amo had brown foot, 50.92% are black foot and 49.08% brown foot in the Ams All the varieties were sinistral (100%) in shape. 100% of the shell colour of Amm was yellow shell with black straight streaks. 52.69%, 68.08%, 64.58% had 3+2 whorls in Amm, Ams and Amo respectively. This study has revealed that these snails can be identified by these qualitative characteristics apart from shell colour. The labium and foot colour can be used to identify these varieties. The labium and foot colour has also indicated that there are still variations among the varieties. Therefore, there is a need for further studies on these varieties of Archachatina marginata.

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