International Journal of Molecular Ecology and Conservation, 2025, Vol.15, No.4, 196-205 http://ecoevopublisher.com/index.php/ijmec 19 6 Review and Perspectives Open Access African Terrestrial Snails as Emerging Invasive Pests: Assessing Their Ecological and Agricultural Impacts Wenying Hong, Rudi Mai Tropical Biological Resources Research Center, Hainan Institute of Tropical Agricultural Resouces, Sanya, 5720 Corresponding email: rudi.mai@hitar.org International Journal of Molecular Ecology and Conservation, 2025, Vol.15, No.4 doi: 10.5376/ijmec.2025.15.0020 Received: 18 Jun., 2025 Accepted: 26 Jul., 2025 Published: 15 Aug., 2025 Copyright © 2025 Hong and Mai, This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Preferred citation for this article: Hong W.Y., and Mai R.D., 2025, African terrestrial snails as emerging invasive pests: assessing their ecological and agricultural impacts, International Journal of Molecular Ecology and Conservation, 15(4): 196-205 (doi: 10.5376/ijmec.2025.15.0020) Abstract The African land snail (mainly referring to the East African giant snail Achatina fulica) has been listed as one of the 100 most malignant invasive species worldwide. This study introduces the invasion routes, ecosystem impacts and agricultural economic losses of the African land snail, and discusses the current prevention and control strategies and management challenges. The results show that the invasion of African land snails can lead to a decline in biodiversity by competing with local species, cause severe yield reduction by feeding on crops, and increase public health risks by spreading zoonotic parasites. Case analyses from various regions show that this species has caused ecological and agricultural disasters in Asia, Latin America and the Pacific Islands. Countries have invested huge costs to control its harm. For instance, Florida in the United States spent 23 million US dollars to eliminate it when it broke out again in 2011. Although current prevention and control methods include manual capture, chemical drugs and biological control, etc., they face challenges such as limited effect, side effects and insufficient public participation in implementation. Research on invasion risk assessment and early warning should be strengthened, and policy supervision and public education should be improved to prevent and control the further spread of the African land snail. This research is of great significance for balancing human activities and the ecological environment. Keywords African land snail; Invasive species; Ecological impact; Agricultural losses; Parasitic transmission 1 Introduction The African land snail (specifically referring to the East African giant snail Achatina fulica) is a large terrestrial snail belonging to the family Lissachatinidae of the order Lunaticida. Originally classified under the genus Achatina, the latest molecular evidence has placed it under the genus Lissachatina (Bohatáand Patoka, 2023). The adult shell of this species can reach a height of 17 centimeters and is renowned for its large size and rapid growth. In ecology, A. fulica is renowned for its omnivorous nature, capable of feeding on over 500 species of plants, including native plants and crops. Its feeding activities are voracious and highly destructive. This kind of snail is native to the tropical regions of eastern Africa, but has successfully invaded many tropical and subtropical regions around the world thanks to its excellent environmental adaptability (Guo et al., 2019). Since the 20th century, the African land snail has been spread through various means: (1) human introduction and unintentional carrying, such as being brought into new areas as food, medicine or ornamental pets; (2) Global trade transportation carrying eggs and young snails, such as spreading with logistics in agricultural products, seedlings and cargo packaging (Jing et al., 2015); (3) Natural diffusion within the region, migrating in the local environment with the aid of media such as rainfall, floods and soil transportation. Since its first invasion of Asian countries in the 1930s, A. fulica has rapidly established A presence in South Asia, Southeast Asia, the Pacific Islands and the tropical regions of the Americas (Bohata and Patoka, 2023). At present, it can be found on almost all continents except Antarctica, causing serious ecological and agricultural problems in more than 50 countries where the invasion occurred (Bohata and Patoka, 2023). For instance, after the first case was discovered in China in 1931, this snail has spread to the provinces in South China. In recent years, it has also been reported in Central and North China, indicating its potential adaptation risk to temperate regions (Tan et al., 2025). The African land snail has drawn significant attention from the global ecological and agricultural fields: on the one hand, it is a strong competitor to many native terrestrial invertebrates and poses a
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