Euglandina rosea (Férussac, 1821) Rosy Wolfsnail Large Specimens

by Bill Frank and Harry Lee

    This lack of success in finding large specimens came to an end on 10/6/2015 when an empty 77.2 mm. specimen was discovered in the roadside swale along US-1 in St. Johns County about 3.1 miles north of its intersection with International Golf Parkway. A return visit to the site on 10/12/2015 yielded a 87.0 mm. giant (pictured below, second image) as well as other outsize specimens measuring 80.4, 77.8, 77.2, 75.8, 72.5, 70.0 mm. and half a dozen other specimens measuring in excess of 65 mm. (including two that were alive). After the discovery of the 87.0 mm., specimen surveys of the site continued on a regular basis over the next five years which ultimately culminated with the find of a 90.3 mm. monster on 12/15/2020 (top image below). When found the specimen was mating with a much smaller specimen. It's likely the largest Euglandina rosea shell ever documented and may well be the largest specimen of a native land shell ever collected in the United States or Canada.

    Two other native North American land snail species are known to attain a larger size - Euglandina sowerbyana (L. Pfeiffer, 1846), 110 mm. and E. vanuxemensis (I. Lea, 1834), 100 mm. Both occur in Mexico.