The Giant African Land Snail (GALS), which belongs to the Achatinidae family, comprises of over 200 species, of which the three commonest are Achatina fulica (recently renamed as Lissaachatina fulica), Achatina achatina and Archachatina marginata. A. fulica originated from East African coast, while A. achatina and A. marginata originated from the West African coast. About 200 years ago, A. fulica was introduced into other countries in the tropics and neotropics, where it appears to have evolved into a pest. The outcome of control efforts in those countries has been uncertain. Whereas in West Africa, the population of the snail has reduced significantly in the wild and unable to meet domestic demand. Hence, scientists in Africa are focusing their research on breeding the snail, while their counterparts outside the continent are focusing on developing more control measures. This study reviewed the reproductive cycle of the snail and highlighted areas that could be explored for either the control or breeding. We found out that environmental conditions particularly temperature and humidity play a key role in the reproductive cycle of the snail especially during copulation, egg laying, incubation and hatching, and growth of juveniles to maturity, which could be modulated for either control or breeding of the snail.
Achatinidae, fecundity, hermaphrodites, invasive species, pestiferous snail
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