Manatee treesnail

Antidrymaeus dormani

Eats: Fungus and mould Snails, slugs and wormsGardens and meadowsNo legsNot an insect, but a bug cousin

The manatee treesnail is a land snail from Florida that likes to climb trees. It carries a spiral shell on its back, like all snails. People once had a special job for it in orange groves.

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

Northern and central Florida, on trees

Top speed

about 0.03 km/h (0.02 mph)

On foot, estimate

Can it hurt you?

Harmless

Harmless. Wash your hands after holding one, like after touching any wild animal.

What does it eat?

It eats sooty mould, a black fungus that grows on the leaves of trees.

Photo of Manatee treesnail — Picture by Katherine Grillo. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How fast is it?

Manatee treesnail about 0.03 km/h (0.02 mph)

A garden snail about 0.05 km/h (0.03 mph)

A tortoise about 0.3 km/h (0.19 mph)

A person walking about 5 km/h (3.1 mph)

cool stuff

Fun facts

Farmers in central Florida once used these snails to clean sooty mould off their citrus trees.

It lives only in Florida, in the north and middle of the state, north of the big Lake Okeechobee.

It is a land snail, so it breathes air and does not live in water.

you asked

Most asked questions about Manatee treesnail

?Is the manatee treesnail dangerous?

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

?What does the manatee treesnail eat?

It eats sooty mould, a black fungus that can cover the leaves of trees.

For bug experts

Scientific name: Antidrymaeus dormani
Group: Snails, slugs and worms
Family: Bulimulidae
Classification: Gastropoda > Stylommatophora > Bulimulidae
Lives on: North America

Where the facts come from

Antidrymaeus dormani (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
Picture by Katherine Grillo. CC BY-SA 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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