Pila ampullacea, Philippines. (picture not licenced under creative commons)	Pila ampullacea. Ho Chi Min City, Vietnam, januari 2001. (picture not licenced under creative commons)	Pila ampullacea. (picture not licenced under creative commons)
Pila ampullacea. (picture not licenced under creative commons)	Pila ampullacea. (picture not licenced under creative commons)	Woman preparing Pila ampullacea snail on a market in Ho Chi Min City, Vietnam, januari 2001. Also see: Eating apple snails (picture not licenced under creative commons)

Shell: The shell of this large Asiatic apple snails varies from 90-100 mm high, 85-90 mm wide. They have a globose shell with an oval shell opening (aperture). The spire is rather short and the umbilicus narrow to nearly closed. The surface of the shell is smooth.
The colour varies from bright green to orange-brown with reddish spiral bands. The internal part of the shell is yellowish with a tinge of purple and marked with strong spiral bands, lighter at the lip.

Interactive 3D-models (Java): - Pila ampullacea shell

Operculum: The operculum is 2 times higher then wide and calcified in older snails.
Body: Grey - brown body.

Pila ampullacea snail on the glass. Ho Chi Min City, Vietnam, januari 2001. (picture not licenced under creative commons)

Eggs: The calcareous, white eggs are deposited above the water line on banks and mudflats in shallow depressions.

Food: All kind of aquatic vegetation, algae.
Aestivation: Pila ampullacea aestivates during the dry season. The snails bury themselves deep into the mud and can be found to depts of 1 m.
Distribution: This apple snail species is abundant throughout South Asia (Philippines, Singapore, Borneo, Sumatra ... ).
Sinistral shell reported in 1994: 5.86 Cavite, Luzon, Philippines, and also present in the collection of Dr. Harry G. Lee, member of the Jacksonville Shell Club.

Sinistral Pila ampullacea snail from the collection of Dr. Harry G. Lee.

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