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Sticker of Giant South American snail
Bug card No. 1835 of 4,939

Giant South American snail

Megalobulimus oblongus
Eats: PlantsSnails, slugs and wormsRainforests and junglesNo legsNot an insect, but a bug cousin

The giant South American snail is a land snail from warm parts of South America and the Caribbean. It carries its shell on its back and breathes air. In Venezuela people call it the guácara.

Fun fact: this one is not an insect at all, it has no legs! But kids find it on every bug hunt, so it lives in Bug Wiki too.
Lives in
South America and the Caribbean, from Brazil and Peru to Barbados and Trinidad
Top speed
about 0.03 km/h (0.02 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. Wash your hands after touching a snail, like after touching any wild animal.
What does it eat?
Like most land snails, it nibbles on plants with a rough tongue.
For real!Photo of Giant South American snail
Picture by ajott. CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

In Venezuela it has its own name: the guácara.

2

It lives in many countries, from Uruguay and Brazil all the way to small Caribbean islands like Barbados.

3

It is a land snail with a lung, so it breathes air instead of water.

you asked

Most asked questions about Giant South American snail

?Where does the giant South American snail live?

In South America and on Caribbean islands such as Barbados and Trinidad.

?Is the giant South American snail dangerous?

No. It is a harmless snail, but wash your hands after touching it.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Megalobulimus oblongus
Group
Snails, slugs and worms
Family
Strophocheilidae
Classification
Gastropoda > Stylommatophora > Strophocheilidae
Lives on
South America, North America

Where the facts come from

  1. Megalobulimus oblongus (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by ajott. CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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