Relatively large, globose, smooth, conical shell with a small umbilicus. Olive green, greenish brown or reddish brown. It is larger in size compared to the similar Heterogen japonica, and has more rounded whorls.
Cipangopaludina chinensis (J. E. Gray, 1833)
Common name: Chinese apple snail, Chinese mystery snail.
Class Gastropoda
Infraclass Caenogastropoda
Informal group Architaenioglossa
Order Viviparida
Superfamily Viviparioidea
Family Viviparidae
Subfamily: Bellamyinae
Genus Cipangopaludina Hannibal, 1912 (Type species: Paludina malleata Reeve, 1863). Synonym: Lecythoconcha Annandale 1920.
Original name: Paludina chinensis Gray, 1833. In Gray, J.E. in Griffith, E. & Pidgeon, E. 1833(-1834). The Mollusca and Radiata. In The animal kingdom. Vol. 12. Ed. Cuvier, G. L. C. F. D., London: Whittaker and Co.
Type locality: China.
Synonyms: Paludina malleata Reeve, 1863; Vivipara wingatei Smith, 1881.
Cipangopaludina chinensis is a filter feeder and detritivore, but also browses on microalgae. Prefers freshwater lakes with soft, muddy or silty bottoms, reservoirs, slow-moving freshwater rivers, streams, paddy fields, and ponds.
Eastern Russia to China and Japan and South East Asia. Introduced into North America and the Netherlands.
This snail has not established in Australia, but is included here as a potential invader. It is consumed as food in Asia, and is a host of the human intestinal fluke Echinostoma cinetorchis.
Chiu, Y.-W., Chen, H.-C., Lee, S.-C. & Chen, C. A. (2002). Morphometric analysis of shell and operculum variations in the viviparid snail, Cipangopaludina chinensis (Mollusca: Gastropoda), in Taiwan. Zoological Studies 41: 321-331.
Chung, P. R. & Jung, Y. (1999). Cipangopaludina chinensis malleata (Gastropoda: Viviparidae): A new second molluscan intermediate host of a human intestinal fluke Echinostoma cinetorchis (Trematoda: Echinostomatidae) in Korea. Journal of Parasitology 85: 963-964.
Collas, F. P., Breedveld, S., Matthews, J., van der Velde, G. & Leuven, R. (2017). Invasion biology and risk assessment of the recently introduced Chinese mystery snail, Bellamya (Cipangopaludina) chinensis (Gray, 1834) in the Rhine-Meuse river delta in Western Europe. Aquatic Invasions 12: 275-286.
Havel, J. E. (2011). Survival of the exotic Chinese mystery snail (Cipangopaludina chinensis malleata) during air exposure and implications for overland dispersal by boats. Hydrobiologia 668: 195-202.
Jokinen, E. H. (1982). Cipangopaludina chinensis (Gastropoda: Viviparidae) in North America, review and update. Nautilus 96: 89-95.
Lu, H.-F., Du, L.-N., Li, Z.-Q., Chen, X.-Y. & Yang, J.-X. (2014). Morphological analysis of the Chinese Cipangopaludina species (Gastropoda; Caenogastropoda: Viviparidae). Dongwuxue Yanjiu (Zoological Research) 35: 510-527.
McCann, M. J. (2014). Population dynamics of the non-native freshwater gastropod, Cipangopaludina chinensis (Viviparidae): a capture-mark-recapture study. Hydrobiologia 730: 17-27.
Ng, T.H., Tan, S.K., Wong, W.H., Meier, R., Chan, S-Y., Tan, H.H. and Yeo, D.C.J. 2016. Molluscs for Sale: Assessment of Freshwater Gastropods and Bivalves in the Ornamental Pet Trade. PLOS One. DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0161130.
Smith, D. G. (2000). Notes on the taxonomy of introduced Bellamya (Gastropoda: Viviparidae) species in northeastern North America. The Nautilus 114: 31-37.
